Transmission of beam switch commands through control channel signaling

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications provide for transmission of a beam switch command to a user equipment (UE) via control channel signaling. The UE may establish a connection with a base station using a first transmission beam, receive configuration information configuring the UE to select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to downlink control information (DCI) including a bit field including a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bit field, receive a downlink control channel transmission via the first transmission beam, decode the downlink control channel transmission in accordance with the configuration information to obtain decoded DCI, and communicate with the base station based at least in part on the decoded DCI.

CROSS REFERENCES

The present Application for Patent is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/419,622 by Nam, et al., entitled, “Transmissionof Beam Switch Commands Through Control Channel Signaling” filed May 22,2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/152,104 by Nam, et al., entitled, “Transmission of Beam SwitchCommands Through Control Channel Signaling” filed Oct. 4, 2018, now U.S.Pat. No. 10,383,107 issued on Jul. 7, 2020, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/950,118 by Nam, et al., entitled,“Transmission of Beam Switch Commands Through Control Channel Signaling”filed Apr. 10, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,123,322 issued on Nov. 6, 2018which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.62/560,168 by Nam, et al., entitled “Transmission of Beam SwitchCommands Through Control Channel Signaling,” filed Sep. 18, 2017,assigned to the assignee hereof.

BACKGROUND

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and morespecifically to transmission of beam switch commands through controlchannel signaling.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of suchmultiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as aLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, andfifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR)systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequencydivision multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multipleaccess (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM).A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number ofbase stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supportingcommunication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwiseknown as user equipment (UE).

In a mmW system, a base station and a UE may communicate via one or moredirectional beams. A transmitter (e.g. a base station) may engage in abeam sweeping procedure to establish a set of active beam pairs with areceiver (e.g., a UE). An active beam pair may include an activetransmit beam of the transmitter and a corresponding active receive beamof the receiver. The transmit beams and the receive beams in an activebeam pair may be refined through, for example, beam refinementprocedures. As the transmit beams are directional, when a UE movesrelative to the base station, the transmit and receive beams may need tobe switched to different beams of a different beam pair corresponding toa different direction. Efficient techniques for performing such beamswitching may help to enhance the efficiency of mmW systems.

SUMMARY

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices,or apparatuses that support transmission of beam switch commands throughcontrol channel signaling. Generally, the techniques provide forconfiguring a user equipment (UE) to select between different decodinghypotheses for blind decoding of a control channel transmission based onwhether downlink control information (DCI) includes a beam switchcommand.

In some examples, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)transmission may include DCI that may or might not have a field for abeam switch command. The UE may identify the beam switch command, ifany, by blind decoding the PDCCH transmission according to one or moredifferent decoding hypotheses, and perform a beam switch operation basedon the beam switch command. In some examples, the UE may need to performmultiple blind decodings since the UE may not know whether the DCIwithin the PDCCH transmission includes the field for the beam switchingcommand. The decoding hypothesis vary depending on a bit length of theDCI and whether the DCI includes the field for the beam switchingcommand. Thus, the UE may perform multiple decoding of the PDCCHtransmission (e.g., attempt to decode using at least one decodinghypothesis for each different DCI bit length), resulting in inefficiencyand increased UE power consumption.

According to various aspects, multiple decoding may be reduced byconfiguring the UE to select between a first decoding hypothesiscorresponding to DCI including a bit field including a beam switchcommand and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI notincluding the bit field. The UE may then decode the PDCCH transmissionin accordance with the configuration information, using the decodinghypotheses the UE is configured to select, to obtain decoded DCI. The UEmay communicate with the base station based on the decoded DCI.

A method of wireless communication by a UE is described. The method mayinclude establishing a connection with a base station using a firsttransmission beam, receiving configuration information configuring theUE to select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCIincluding a bit field including a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield, receiving a downlink control channel transmission via the firsttransmission beam, decoding the downlink control channel transmission inaccordance with the configuration information to obtain decoded DCI, andcommunicating with the base station based on the decoded DCI.

An apparatus for wireless communication by a UE is described. Theapparatus may include a processor, memory in electronic communicationwith the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. Theinstructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatusto establish a connection with a base station using a first transmissionbeam, receive configuration information configuring the UE to selectbetween a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bitfield including a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesiscorresponding to the DCI not including the bit field, receive a downlinkcontrol channel transmission via the first transmission beam, decode thedownlink control channel transmission in accordance with theconfiguration information to obtain decoded DCI, and communicate withthe base station based on the decoded DCI.

Another apparatus for wireless communication by a UE is described. Theapparatus may include means for establishing a connection with a basestation using a first transmission beam, means for receivingconfiguration information configuring the UE to select between a firstdecoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit field includinga beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding tothe DCI not including the bit field, means for receiving a downlinkcontrol channel transmission via the first transmission beam, means fordecoding the downlink control channel transmission in accordance withthe configuration information to obtain decoded DCI, and means forcommunicating with the base station based on the decoded DCI.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunication by a UE is described. The code may include instructionsexecutable by a processor to establish a connection with a base stationusing a first transmission beam, receive configuration informationconfiguring the UE to select between a first decoding hypothesiscorresponding to DCI including a bit field including a beam switchcommand and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI notincluding the bit field, receive a downlink control channel transmissionvia the first transmission beam, decode the downlink control channeltransmission in accordance with the configuration information to obtaindecoded DCI, and communicate with the base station based on the decodedDCI.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the configuration informationconfigures the UE to select the first decoding hypothesis in a first setof control resources and the second decoding hypothesis in a second setof control resources that is different from the first set of controlresources.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the configuration informationconfigures the UE to select between a first subset of a set of DCIdecoding hypotheses that include the bit field, and a second subset ofDCI of the set of DCI decoding hypotheses that do not include the bitfield.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for selecting, based on theconfiguration information, the first decoding hypothesis from the firstsubset of the set of DCI decoding hypotheses for decoding of thedownlink control channel transmission to obtain the decoded DCI andidentifying the bit field including the beam switch command within thedecoded DCI.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the bit field may beidentified based on one or more of a configuration of a DCI format, atransmission rank indicator, or an indication provided in RRC signaling.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the configuration informationincludes an indication that the first decoding hypothesis or the seconddecoding hypothesis may be to be used to blind decode the DCI, or thatboth the first decoding hypothesis and the second decoding hypothesismay be to be used to blind decode the DCI.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, receiving the configurationinformation further includes receiving the configuration information byat least radio resource control signaling.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the decoding the downlinkcontrol channel transmission further includes blind decoding thedownlink control channel transmission in accordance with the firstdecoding hypothesis and blind decoding the downlink control channeltransmission in accordance with the second decoding hypothesis.

Some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein may further includeoperations, features, means, or instructions for identifying the beamswitch command based on the decoded DCI, modifying one or morebeamforming parameters based on the beam switch command and receiving,in accordance with the modified one or more beamforming parameters, oneor more subsequent downlink transmissions via a second transmissionbeam.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the modifying the one or morebeamforming parameters includes identifying the one or more beamformingparameters based on the beam switch command.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the beam switch commandincludes one or more of a beam index or a beam tag that may be mapped tothe one or more beamforming parameters, and timing informationindicating when the second transmission beam may be to be used.

A method of wireless communication at a base station is described. Themethod may include establishing a connection with a UE using a firsttransmission beam, transmitting configuration information to configurethe UE to select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding toDCI including a bit field including a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield, generating a downlink control channel transmission in accordancewith the configuration information, and transmitting the downlinkcontrol channel transmission via the first transmission beam.

An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station is described.The apparatus may include a processor, memory in electroniccommunication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory.The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to establish a connection with a UE using a first transmissionbeam, transmit configuration information to configure the UE to selectbetween a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bitfield including a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesiscorresponding to the DCI not including the bit field, generate adownlink control channel transmission in accordance with theconfiguration information, and transmit the downlink control channeltransmission via the first transmission beam.

Another apparatus for wireless communication at a base station isdescribed. The apparatus may include means for establishing a connectionwith a UE using a first transmission beam, means for transmittingconfiguration information to configure the UE to select between a firstdecoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit field includinga beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding tothe DCI not including the bit field, means for generating a downlinkcontrol channel transmission in accordance with the configurationinformation, and means for transmitting the downlink control channeltransmission via the first transmission beam.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wirelesscommunication at a base station is described. The code may includeinstructions executable by a processor to establish a connection with aUE using a first transmission beam, transmit configuration informationto configure the UE to select between a first decoding hypothesiscorresponding to DCI including a bit field including a beam switchcommand and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI notincluding the bit field, generate a downlink control channeltransmission in accordance with the configuration information, andtransmit the downlink control channel transmission via the firsttransmission beam.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the configuration informationconfigures the UE to select between a first subset of a set of DCIdecoding hypotheses that correspond to DCI including the bit field, anda second subset of the set of DCI decoding hypotheses that correspond toDCI not including the bit field.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, transmitting theconfiguration information further includes transmitting theconfiguration information by at least radio resource control signaling.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the configuration informationincludes an indication to the UE that the first decoding hypothesis orsecond decoding hypothesis may be to be used to blind decode the DCI, orthat both the first decoding hypothesis and the second decodinghypothesis may be to be used to blind decode the DCI.

In some examples of the method, apparatuses, and non-transitorycomputer-readable medium described herein, the beam switch commandincludes one or more of a beam index or a beam tag that may be mapped toone or more beamforming parameters of the second transmission beam, andtiming information indicating when the second transmission beam may beto be used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communicationthat supports transmission of beam switch commands through controlchannel signaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a portion of a wireless communicationsystem that supports transmission of beam switch commands throughcontrol channel signaling in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a DCI format that supports transmissionof beam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of another DCI format that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of another DCI format that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a method that supports transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a process flow that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 8 through 10 show block diagrams of a device that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a UE thatsupports transmission of beam switch commands through control channelsignaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 12 through 14 show block diagrams of a device that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates a block diagram of a system including a base stationthat supports transmission of beam switch commands through controlchannel signaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 16 through 22 illustrate methods for transmission of beam switchcommands through control channel signaling in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices,or apparatuses that support transmission of beam switch commands throughcontrol channel signaling. Generally, the techniques provide forconfiguring a user equipment (UE) to select between different decodinghypotheses for blind decoding of a control channel transmission based onwhether downlink control information (DCI) includes a beam switchcommand.

In some examples, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)transmission may include DCI that conditionally includes a field for abeam switch command. The UE may identify the beam switch command, ifany, by blind decoding the PDCCH transmission according to one or moredifferent decoding hypotheses, and perform a beam switch operation basedon the beam switch command. In some examples, the UE may need to performmultiple blind decodings (e.g., for a given DCI format) since the UE maynot know whether the DCI within the PDCCH transmission includes thefield for the beam switching command. The decoding hypotheses varydepending on supported or configured DCI formats or bit lengths, andwhether the DCI includes the field for the beam switching command. Thus,the UE may perform multiple decoding of the PDCCH transmission (e.g.,attempt to decode using at least one decoding hypothesis for eachdifferent DCI bit length or DCI format), resulting in inefficiency andincreased UE power consumption.

According to various aspects, the number of blind decodings (e.g., for agiven DCI format) may be reduced or minimized by configuring the UE toselect between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCIincluding a bit field including a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield. The UE may then decode the PDCCH transmission in accordance withthe configuration information, using only the decoding hypotheses the UEis configured to select. This may reduce a burden of blind decoding atthe UE because a number of blind decoding candidates (e.g., blinddecoding hypotheses) is reduced.

In some cases, one or more DCI formats may include a dedicated fieldwith a beam switching command, and a UE may blind decode the DCIformat(s) based on a set of blind decoding hypotheses and identify theDCI and any beam switch command that may be included therein.Additionally or alternatively, the DCI may include an activation bitthat indicates whether a dedicated field with the beam switch command ofthe DCI is active. In some cases, one or more DCI fields may be reusedfor beam switch commands.

As indicated above, in mmW systems a base station and UE may communicatevia one or more directional beams, and a base station may engage in abeam sweeping operation to establish an active transmit beam with a UE.A base station may also engage in beam tracking to maintain a connectionwith a UE. In some cases, as a UE moves relative to the base station,the base station may provide an indication to the UE that one or morebeamforming parameters are to be modified, in order to maintain aconnection with the UE. Such an indication to modify beamformingparameters may be referred to as a beam switch command, and may allowthe connection between the base station and the UE to maintain highergain beams. For example, a UE may establish two active beam pairs, anduse a first active beam pair for transmissions. Based on movement of theUE, or some other interference (e.g., a user's hand blocking a UEantenna), it may be determined that transmissions should be made usingthe second active beam pair. In some cases, at the same time, refinementor recovery of the first active beam pair can be performed as abackground process.

In some cases, beam switch commands may be provided through DCI. In somecases, different DCI formats have different DCI sizes, and a UE mayperform blind decoding on a number of different DCI sizes to decode theinformation in the DCI. According to various techniques provided herein,a beam switch command may be conditionally provided in certain DCIformats without substantially increasing the number of blind decodes forthe DCI formats. Such techniques may enhance UE efficiency and powerconsumption by reducing a number of blind decodes at the UE, and mayalso enhance network efficiency by reducing the likelihood of blinddecoding failures and by allowing more efficient maintenance of beamswith higher gain. In some cases, a DCI format including a beam switchcommand may be derived from another DCI format, with an appended beamswitch field. The beam switch field may be set at a number of bits, andif a beam switch payload is not included or smaller than the number ofbits, padding bits may be used. Thus, a same blind decoding hypothesiscan be used for the appended beam switch DCI field irrespective of apayload size. In some cases, a format type indicator (or a format typeidentifier) or activation bit may be included with the DCI to indicatethe DCI format. For example, a format type identifier may be embedded ina payload of the DCI so as to allow the UE to distinguish different DCIformats having a same size.

In some cases, one or more DCI fields may be reused for a beam switchcommand. For example, a DCI format may include separate fields for twocodewords (CWs), such as fields for indicating a modulation and codingscheme for multiple transmission layers mapped from two CWs. In somecases, a number of transmission layers may be limited so that only oneCW is transmitted, and DCI for the transmission layers may containinformation for a single CW (e.g., rank or modulation and coding scheme(MCS)). In such cases, the DCI field for the second CW may be used totransmit the beam switch command. In some cases, a base station mayconfigure a UE to reuse the DCI field for the second CW as a beam switchcommand based on a maximum number of CWs at the UE when using beamformedtransmissions.

As indicated above, such techniques may enhance UE efficiency and powerconsumption by reducing a number of blind decodes at the UE.Furthermore, in cases where a UE is moving within a system, suchtechniques may allow for more accurate information (e.g., more accuratebeams) that may be used in subsequent transmissions which may provideenhanced likelihood of successful receipt of transmitted data at the UEand base station. Additionally, in cases where mmW transmissions use ashared or unlicensed frequency spectrum band, a reduced number oftransmissions between a UE and a base station is beneficial because itreduces the likelihood that transmissions will be interrupted in theevent that a different transmitter obtains the wireless channel.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of awireless communications system. Various examples of DCI formats are thendescribed. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by anddescribed with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, andflowcharts that relate to transmission of beam switch commands throughcontrol channel signaling.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wirelesscommunications system 100 includes base stations 105, UEs 115, and acore network 130. In some examples, the wireless communications system100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A)network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some cases, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications,ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latencycommunications, or communications with low-cost and low-complexitydevices.

Base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate with UEs 115 via one ormore base station antennas. Base stations 105 described herein mayinclude or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radiotransceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation Node B orgiga-nodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB,a Home eNodeB, or some other suitable terminology. Wirelesscommunications system 100 may include base stations 105 of differenttypes (e.g., macro or small cell base stations). The UEs 115 describedherein may be able to communicate with various types of base stations105 and network equipment including macro eNBs, small cell eNBs, gNBs,relay base stations, and the like.

Each base station 105 may be associated with a particular geographiccoverage area 110 in which communications with various UEs 115 aresupported. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage fora respective geographic coverage area 110 via communication links 125,and communication links 125 between a base station 105 and a UE 115 mayutilize one or more carriers. Communication links 125 shown in wirelesscommunications system 100 may include uplink transmissions from a UE 115to a base station 105, or downlink transmissions, from a base station105 to a UE 115. Downlink transmissions may also be called forward linktransmissions while uplink transmissions may also be called reverse linktransmissions.

The geographic coverage area 110 for a base station 105 may be dividedinto sectors making up only a portion of the geographic coverage area110, and each sector may be associated with a cell. For example, eachbase station 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, asmall cell, a hot spot, or other types of cells, or various combinationsthereof. In some examples, a base station 105 may be movable andtherefore provide communication coverage for a moving geographiccoverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas110 associated with different technologies may overlap, and overlappinggeographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies maybe supported by the same base station 105 or by different base stations105. The wireless communications system 100 may include, for example, aheterogeneous LTE/LTE-A or NR network in which different types of basestations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110.

The term “cell” refers to a logical communication entity used forcommunication with a base station 105 (e.g., over a carrier), and may beassociated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells(e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier(VCID)) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples,a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may beconfigured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-typecommunication (MTC), narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT), enhancedmobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access fordifferent types of devices. In some cases, the term “cell” may refer toa portion of a geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) over whichthe logical entity operates.

UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications system100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also bereferred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, ahandheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitableterminology, where the “device” may also be referred to as a unit, astation, a terminal, or a client. A UE 115 may also be a personalelectronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. Insome examples, a UE 115 may also refer to a wireless local loop (WLL)station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything(IoE) device, or an MTC device, or the like, which may be implemented invarious articles such as appliances, vehicles, meters, or the like.

Base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130 and with oneanother. For example, base stations 105 may interface with the corenetwork 130 through backhaul links 132 (e.g., via an S1 or otherinterface). Base stations 105 may communicate with one another overbackhaul links 134 (e.g., via an X2 or other interface) either directly(e.g., directly between base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via corenetwork 130).

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, accessauthorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and otheraccess, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be anevolved packet core (EPC), which may include at least one mobilitymanagement entity (MME), at least one serving gateway (S-GW), and atleast one Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW). The MME may managenon-access stratum (e.g., control plane) functions such as mobility,authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by basestations 105 associated with the EPC. User IP packets may be transferredthrough the S-GW, which itself may be connected to the P-GW. The P-GWmay provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The P-GWmay be connected to the network operators IP services. The operators IPservices may include access to the Internet, Intranet(s), an IPMultimedia Subsystem (IMS), or a Packet-Switched (PS) Streaming Service.

At least some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, mayinclude subcomponents such as an access network entity, which may be anexample of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entitymay communicate with UEs 115 through a number of other access networktransmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio head, a smartradio head, or a transmission/reception point (TRP). In someconfigurations, various functions of each access network entity or basestation 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g.,radio heads and access network controllers) or consolidated into asingle network device (e.g., a base station 105).

Wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or morefrequency bands, typically in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz.Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known as the ultra-highfrequency (UHF) region or decimeter band, since the wavelengths rangefrom approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves maybe blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features.However, the waves may penetrate structures sufficiently for a macrocell to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHFwaves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter range (e.g.,less than 100 km) compared to transmission using the smaller frequenciesand longer waves of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF)portion of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in a super highfrequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, alsoknown as the centimeter band. The SHF region includes bands such as the5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) bands, which may be usedopportunistically by devices that can tolerate interference from otherusers.

Wireless communications system 100 may also operate in an extremely highfrequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz),also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW)communications between UEs 115 and base stations 105, and EHF antennasof the respective devices may be even smaller and more closely spacedthan UHF antennas. In some cases, this may facilitate use of antennaarrays within a UE 115. However, the propagation of EHF transmissionsmay be subject to even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter rangethan SHF or UHF transmissions. Techniques disclosed herein may beemployed across transmissions that use one or more different frequencyregions, and designated use of bands across these frequency regions maydiffer by country or regulating body.

In some cases, wireless communications system 100 may utilize bothlicensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example,wireless communications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access(LAA), LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technologyin an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz ISM band. When operating inunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, wireless devices such as basestations 105 and UEs 115 may employ listen-before-talk (LBT) proceduresto ensure a frequency channel is clear before transmitting data. In somecases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a carrieraggregation (CA) configuration in conjunction with component carriers(CCs) operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in unlicensedspectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions,peer-to-peer transmissions, or a combination of these. Duplexing inunlicensed spectrum may be based on frequency division duplexing (FDD),time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination of both.

The term “carrier” refers to a set of radio frequency spectrum resourceshaving a defined physical layer structure for supporting communicationsover a communication link 125. For example, a carrier of a communicationlink 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band thatis operated according to physical layer channels for a given radioaccess technology. Each physical layer channel may carry user data,control information, or other signaling. A carrier may be associatedwith a pre-defined frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN)), and may be positionedaccording to a channel raster for discovery by UEs 115. Carriers may bedownlink or uplink (e.g., in an FDD mode), or be configured to carrydownlink and uplink communications (e.g., in a TDD mode). In someexamples, signal waveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up ofmultiple sub-carriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM)techniques such as OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM).

Wireless communications system 100 may support communication with a UE115 on multiple cells or carriers, a feature which may be referred to ascarrier aggregation (CA) or multi-carrier operation. A UE 115 may beconfigured with multiple downlink CCs and one or more uplink CCsaccording to a carrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregationmay be used with both FDD and TDD component carriers. In some cases, afirst CC may be a low-band carrier and a second CC may be a high-bandcarrier that uses mmW beamformed transmissions.

In some examples, base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped withmultiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such astransmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) communications, or beamforming. For example, wirelesscommunications system 100 may use a transmission scheme between atransmitting device (e.g., a base station 105) and a receiving device(e.g., a UE 115), where the transmitting device is equipped withmultiple antennas and the receiving devices are equipped with one ormore antennas. MIMO communications may employ multipath signalpropagation to increase the spectral efficiency by transmitting orreceiving multiple signals via different spatial layers, which may bereferred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, forexample, be transmitted by the transmitting device via differentantennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the multiplesignals may be received by the receiving device via different antennasor different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals maybe referred to as a separate spatial stream, and may carry bitsassociated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) ordifferent data streams. Different spatial layers may be associated withdifferent antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMOtechniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) where multiple spatiallayers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-userMIMO (MU-MIMO) where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multipledevices.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering,directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signalprocessing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or areceiving device (e.g., a base station 105 or a UE 115) to shape orsteer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along aspatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device.Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated viaantenna elements of an antenna array such that signals propagating atparticular orientations with respect to an antenna array experienceconstructive interference while others experience destructiveinterference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antennaelements may include a transmitting device or a receiving deviceapplying certain amplitude and phase offsets to signals carried via eachof the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustmentsassociated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by abeamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g.,with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device orreceiving device, or with respect to some other orientation).

In one example, a base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antennaarrays to conduct beamforming operations for directional communicationswith a UE 115. For instance, some signals (e.g. synchronization signals,reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) maybe transmitted by a base station 105 multiple times in differentdirections, which may include a signal being transmitted according todifferent beamforming weight sets associated with different directionsof transmission. Transmissions in different beam directions may be usedto identify (e.g., by the base station 105 or a receiving device, suchas a UE 115) a beam direction for subsequent transmission and/orreception by the base station 105. Some signals, such as data signalsassociated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by abase station 105 in a single beam direction (e.g., a directionassociated with the receiving device, such as a UE 115).

In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmissions alonga single beam direction may be determined based at least in part on asignal that was transmitted in different beam directions. For example, aUE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by the basestation 105 in different directions, and the UE 115 may report to thebase station 105 an indication of the signal it received with a highestsignal quality, or an otherwise acceptable signal quality. Althoughthese techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted inone or more directions by a base station 105, a UE 115 may employsimilar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in differentdirections (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequenttransmission or reception by the UE 115), or transmitting a signal in asingle direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device). Insome cases, a base station 105 may transmit a beam switch command to aUE 115 based on, for example, gain measurements associated with one ormore different beams.

Various techniques as discussed herein provide for transmitting of sucha beam switch command. In some cases, a base station 105 may transmit abeam switch command to a UE 115 via control channel signaling, such asin a PDCCH transmission that includes DCI with a beam switch command.The UE 115 may identify the beam switch command, and modify one or morebeamforming parameters to switch transmit and/or receive beams. In somecases, a DCI format may include a dedicated field that may include thebeam switch command, and a UE 115 may blind decode the DCI based on aset of blind decoding hypotheses corresponding to DCI payloads havingdiffering numbers of bits, and identify the DCI format and any beamswitch command that may be included therein. In some cases, the DCI mayinclude an activation bit that indicates whether the beam switch commandof the DCI is active. In some cases, one or more DCI fields may bereused for beam switch commands.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 200that supports transmission of beam switch commands through controlchannel signaling in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In some examples, wireless communication system 200 mayimplement aspects of wireless communication system 100. Wirelesscommunication system 200 may include a base station 105-a and a UE115-a, which may be examples of the corresponding devices described withreference to FIG. 1. The base station 105-a and UE 115-a may be within ageographical coverage area 205 of the base station 105-a, and maycommunicate using one or more directional beams.

In the example of FIG. 2, the UE 115-a may be located at a firstlocation within the geographical coverage area 205, and may receivedownlink transmissions from the base station 105-a in a first downlinktransmission beam 210. At some later time, the UE 115-a may move to asecond location within the geographical coverage area 205, such that thefirst downlink transmission beam 210 may no longer be a preferredtransmission beam for transmissions to the UE 115-a. In such cases, thebase station 105-b and the UE 115-a may switch to a second downlinktransmission beam 215, which may provide enhanced performance relativeto the first downlink transmission beam 210 at the second location.While the example of FIG. 2 illustrates downlink transmission beams 210and 215, techniques as discussed herein may also be applied to uplinktransmission beams from the UE 115-a to the base station 105-a. In somecases, beam reciprocity may be used to modify both downlink and uplinkbeamforming parameters as part of switching from the first downlinktransmission beam 210 to the second downlink transmission beam 215.

In some examples, the base station 105-a may transmit a beam switchcommand to the UE 115-a. For example, the base station 105-a, followingestablishment of the downlink transmission beam 210, may engage in abeam tracking operation (e.g., based on gain measurements of receivedtransmissions from the UE 115-a, reported measurements from the UE115-a, one or more beam refinement signals, or any combination thereof)to maintain a connection with the UE 115-a, and may determine that abeam switch to the second downlink transmission beam 215 should beperformed. The base station 105-a may signal a beam switch command tothe UE 115-a to perform beam switching, and one or more subsequenttransmissions to the UE 115-a may be made using the second downlinktransmission beam 215.

As indicated above, in some cases, the beam switch command may betransmitted in DCI on a PDCCH transmission. In some cases, a beam switchDCI format may be derived from another DCI format, with an appended beamswitch field, such as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. For example, a DCIformat with a beam switch command may be derived from a DCI formatwithout a beam switch command by appending a beam switch field. In suchscenario, the UE may be configured to monitor both the DCI formatwithout a beam switch command and the derived DCI format, and mayperform beam switch if the UE detects the derived DCI format with beamswitch field. The size of the beam switch field may be set to a numberof bits, and if a beam switch payload is smaller than the number ofbits, padding bits may be used. Thus, a same blind decoding hypothesiscan be used for the DCI format with appended beam switch fieldirrespective of a payload size. Additionally or alternatively, a formattype indicator or activation bit may be included with the DCI toindicate the DCI format or activation of the beam switch field. In othercases, such as illustrated in FIG. 5, one or more DCI fields may bereused for a beam switch command.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a DCI format 300 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, DCI format 300 may be used to provide DCI in wirelesscommunication system 100 or 200. In this example, a first decodinghypothesis 305 for the DCI format 300 may provide DCI that does notinclude a beam switch command, and a second decoding hypothesis 310 forthe DCI format 300 may provide DCI that does include the beam switchcommand.

In the example of FIG. 3, a first number of bits 315 may include DCI bit0 through bit N-1. The first number of bits 315, in some cases, maycorrespond to a DCI size of the DCI format 300 that may be used toindicate DCI information that does not include beam switch information.For example, the first number of bits 315 may carry an uplink resourceallocation for a subsequent uplink transmission, information aboutdownlink data that is to be transmitted to a UE 115, information relatedto downlink transmissions to the UE 115 (e.g., MCS information), uplinkpower control information, or any combination thereof. In some cases,DCI information may be formatted according to a number of establishedDCI formats, such as formats for uplink scheduling, formats for Non-MIMOdownlink scheduling, formats for MIMO downlink scheduling, formats foruplink power control, or the like. Each DCI format may have a differentnumber of bits, and a UE 115 receiving the DCI may perform blinddecoding based on the different alternatives of DCI length to decode theDCI and identify the information contained therein.

As indicated above, it may be desirable to have a UE 115 performrelatively few blind decodes. Thus, in some cases, a second number ofbeam switch command DCI bits 320 may be appended to the first number ofbits 315, which may contain a beam switch command for the DCI format300. A UE 115 may then perform a first blind decode assuming the firstdecoding hypothesis 305 and, if the blind decode is unsuccessful, mayperform a second blind decode assuming the second decoding hypothesis310. In either case, the first number of bits 315 may be decoded andassociated DCI identified. In cases where the blind decoding of thesecond decoding hypothesis 310 is successful, the UE 115 may also decodethe beam switch command that is included in M bits of the second numberof beam switch command DCI bits 320. In some cases, the second number ofbeam switch command DCI bits 320 may include an index or tag associatedwith a beam that is to be switched to, and time to switch. In somecases, the index or tag may be mapped to one or more beamformingparameters for the new beam, or may be used to derive updatedbeamforming parameters. The UE 115 may then use the modified beamformingparameters to receive subsequent downlink transmissions, transmitsubsequent uplink transmissions, or combinations thereof. In some cases,a beam switch command may not occupy all M bits of the second number ofbeam switch command DCI bits 320, and padding (e.g., zero-padding) maybe used for remaining bits of the second number of beam switch commandDCI bits 320.

As indicated above, in some cases a UE 115 may blind decode downlinkcontrol channel transmissions to identify the DCI. In some cases, anumber of blind decodes may be reduced though one or more configurationsthat may be provided to the UE 115. In some examples, the UE 115 may beconfigured (e.g., via higher layer signaling such as RRC signaling or ina medium access control (MAC) control element (CE)) with a set ofhypotheses of DCI formats for use in blind decoding. For example, the UE115 may be configured with a first subset of DCI formats or decodinghypotheses that include the one or more bit fields including the beamswitch command, and a second subset of DCI formats or decodinghypotheses in which the one or more bit fields including the beam switchcommand are absent. In some cases, the second subset of DCI formats maybe a subset of the first subset of DCI formats (e.g., different decodinghypotheses for some or all of a set of DCI formats). The base station105 may identify that beam switching may not be needed for the UE 115,such as if the UE 115 is stationary or has not moved for a certain timeperiod, and may signal to the UE 115 that only the second subset of DCIformats or decoding hypotheses may be transmitted. Such a UE 115 maythen perform blind decoding using the second subset of DCI formats ordecoding hypotheses, which may reduce the burden of blind decoding atthe UE 115 because the number of blind decoding candidates is reduced.In other examples, the base station 105 may configure the UE 115 toperform blind decoding on the second subset of DCI formats or decodinghypotheses, followed by blind decoding of DCI formats in the firstsubset of DCI formats not included in the second subset of DCI formats,and thus the blind decoding operation proceeds beyond the second subsetof DCI formats in cases where a beam switch command is transmitted.

In some cases, multiple sets of control resources may be configured forthe UE 115 to monitor. For example, the UE 115 may monitor multiplecontrol channels (e.g., PDCCH, enhanced PDCCH (ePDCCH), shortened PDCCH(sPDCCH)) in LTE or multiple control resource sets (CORESETs) in NR. If,for example, there are multiple sets of control resources configured fora UE 115 to monitor, the configuration information may configure the UE115 to use one or more hypotheses for decoding a first set of controlresources, one or more different hypotheses for decoding a second set ofcontrol resource, and so forth for any additional sets of controlresources. In an example, a first decoding hypothesis 305 may correspondto a first CORESET and a second decoding hypothesis 310 may correspondto a second CORESET. In such case, configuration information (e.g., RRCsignaling) may configure the UE 115 to select the first decodinghypothesis in a first CORESET and the second decoding hypothesis in asecond CORESET that is different from the first CORESET. The UE 115 mayselect, based on the configuration information, the first decodinghypothesis 305 when attempting to decode the first CORESET and thesecond decoding hypothesis 310 when attempting to decode the secondCORESET. Additionally or alternatively, the configuration informationmay configure the UE to use different hypotheses for different searchspaces or search space sets within a CORESET. Thus, the UE 115 maydecode a set of control resources configured for the UE 115 using only asubset of decoding hypotheses corresponding to that set of controlresources, thereby reducing the number of blind decodings that the UE115 may perform.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of another DCI format 400 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, DCI format 400 may be used to provide DCI in wirelesscommunication system 100 or 200.

In this example, a first DCI payload 405 for DCI format 400 may provideDCI that does not include a beam switch command, and a second DCIpayload 410 for DCI format 400 may provide DCI that does include thebeam switch command. Furthermore, in this example, an activation bit 420may indicate whether beam switch command bits 425 are included followinga first number of DCI bits 415.

In the example of FIG. 4, the first number of DCI bits 415 may includeDCI bit 0 through bit N-1, and may be used to indicate DCI informationthat does not include beam switch information. For example, similarly asdiscussed above, the first number of bits 415 may carry an uplinkresource allocation for a subsequent uplink transmission, informationabout downlink data that is to be transmitted to a UE, informationrelated to downlink transmissions to the UE (e.g., MCS information),uplink power control information, or any combination thereof. In somecases, the first number of DCI bits 415 may be formatted according to anumber of established DCI formats, such as formats for uplinkscheduling, formats for Non-MIMO downlink scheduling, format for MIMOdownlink scheduling, formats for uplink power control, or the like.

The UE 115 may perform blind decoding based on the first number of DCIbits 415, the activation bit 420, and the beam switch command DCI bits425. In the case where a beam switch command is not included, such as inthe first DCI payload 405, the activation bit 420-a may be set (e.g., tozero) to indicate that beam switch command DCI bits 425-a aredeactivated, and thus the UE may ignore such bits and not attempt toparse or otherwise use such bits. In the case where a beam switchcommand is included, such as in the second DCI payload 410, theactivation bit 420-b may be set (e.g., to one) to indicate that beamswitch command DCI bits 425-b are activated, and thus the UE 115 mayparse and use the additional bits to identify the beam switch command.The UE may perform a beam switch when the beam switch field is active(e.g., the activation bit 420-b is set). Thus, in this example, the DCIpayloads of DCI format 400 with and without a beam switch command mayhave a same size, and the number of blind decodes performed at the UE115 may be reduced.

Additionally or alternatively, a special DCI format may be defined thatincludes beam switch command information, and such a special DCI formatmay not contain other information (e.g., downlink or uplink schedulingassignment/grant information), or may contain such other information inaddition to the beam switch command information. In some cases, thespecial DCI format may be a stand-alone DCI format that is not derivedfrom another DCI format. In such cases, an additional blind decode maybe added to a blind decoding operation at the UE 115 to blind decode thespecial DCI format.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of another DCI format 500 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, DCI format 500 (of which only a portion may be illustrated inFIG. 5) may be used to provide DCI in wireless communication system 100or 200. In this example, one or more existing DCI formats may includeseparate fields for two codewords (CWs), such as fields for indicating amodulation and coding scheme (MCS) for multiple transmission layersmapped from two CWs, namely a first CW 515 and a second CW 520. In someexamples, each CW may use at least 5 bits for indicating MCS. When atransmission rank indicator (TRI) is less than or equal to 4, only thefirst CW 515 may be scheduled and the MCS field for the second CWremains unused. When sending a beam switch is desired, a number of CWsmay be restricted to a single CW (e.g., via an RRC signaling), and thebit field for the second CW within the existing DCI formats may bereused for transmitting a beam switch command. In some cases, a basestation 105 may configure a UE to reuse the DCI field for the second CW520 as a beam switch command based on a maximum number of CWs at the UEwhen using beamformed transmissions.

Thus, in the example of FIG. 5, a first DCI payload 505 may include thefirst CW 515-a and the second CW 520-a. In this example, both the firstCW 515-a and the second CW 520-a may be used for indicating a modulationand coding scheme for multiple transmission layers mapped from two CWs,such that both the first CW 515-a and the second CW 520-a have DCI bitsthat do not contain a beam switch command. In some cases, as indicatedabove, the number of transmission layers may be limited such that onlyone CW is transmitted. For example, in some mmW deployments, forpractical reasons transmissions may be limited to rank 2. In such acase, a second DCI payload 510 may include the first CW 515-b thatcontains DCI for the transmission layers (e.g., rank or MCW), and bitsin the second CW 520-a may be reused to provide beam switch commandinformation in beam switch command DCI bits of the second CW 520-b.Thus, in such examples, instead of assigning a dedicated field for abeam switch command, some bit fields in existing DCI formats can bere-used, which may reduce a number of blind decode operations at a UE115.

While the example of FIG. 5 discusses a DCI format that may provide MCSinformation (e.g., for a downlink scheduling assignment), other DCI bitfields may be re-used in other examples. In some cases, a base station105 may identify that beam switching may be necessary for a UE 115, andin such cases the base station 105 may restrict the one or moreparameters, which may fix parameters for some portion of DCI that may bere-used for beam switching. As discussed with respect to FIG. 5, thebase station 105 may restrict a number of transmission layers (e.g.,restrict a transmission rank indicator (TRI) to 2), and re-use certainDCI bits for beam switch command DCI bits. In some cases, when operatingusing mmW, such a restriction may always be in place. In other cases,such a restriction may be indicated in configuration informationprovided to the UE 115, such as via RRC signaling.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example flow diagram 600 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, flow diagram 600 may be used to provide DCI in wirelesscommunication system 100 or 200. The operations of flow diagram 600 maybe performed by a receiver, such as a UE 115 discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 1 and 2.

At block 605, the UE 115 may receive a downlink transmission. Forexample, the UE 115 may receive a downlink transmission from a basestation 105. The downlink transmission may be transmitted, in someexamples, using a first downlink transmission beam in a mmW system. Thedownlink transmission may be received at a receive chain in the UE 115,which may demodulate the downlink transmission and provide a number ofmodulation symbols to a decoder at the UE 115.

At block 610, the UE 115 may select an initial blind decodinghypothesis. In some cases, the initial blind decoding hypothesis may beselected based on a number of available DCI formats in which DCI may betransmitted. In some cases, a UE 115 may be configured with a set of DCIformats for performing blind decoding. In some cases, one DCI format maybe prioritized for selection as the initial blind decoding hypothesis.In some examples, a first subset of blind decoding hypotheses may beconfigured that is a subset of a second subset of blind decodinghypotheses. In some cases, the first subset of blind decoding hypothesesmay include DCI that does not contain a beam switch command, and thesecond subset of blind decoding hypotheses may contain DCI that does ordoes not contain a beam switch command. The UE 115 may be configured touse the first subset or the second subset, in some examples, viaconfiguration information provided by the base station 105 (e.g., incases where the base station 105 does or does not expect to perform beamswitching).

At block 615, the UE 115 may blind decode the transmission using theselected blind decoding hypothesis. Such blind decoding may include, forexample, attempting to decode the demodulated modulation symbolsaccording to a size of the DCI of the selected decoding hypothesis.

At block 620, the UE 115 may determine if the decoding was successful.In some cases, the UE 115 may determine that the decoding was successfulbased on an output of the decoding operation and whether decodingresults in output bits and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) that indicate asuccessful decode. For example, the UE 115 may check a computed CRC withits corresponding Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI). If the CRCis decoded successfully with that RNTI, the UE 115 may determine thatthe decoding was successful.

At block 625, if it is determined that the decoding was not successful,the UE 115 may select a next blind decoding hypothesis and repeat theoperations of blocks 615 and 620. In some cases, the next blind decodinghypothesis selected by the UE 115 may correspond to a DCI that has notbeen attempted for blind decoding yet. In some cases, the UE 115 mayselect a DCI for blind decoding that is in the first subset of blinddecoding hypotheses before selecting a DCI for blind decoding that is inthe second subset (but not the first subset) of blind decodinghypotheses. In some cases, the UE 115 may attempt only decodinghypotheses in the first subset and, if a successful decode is notperformed, may initiate a failure procedure.

If it is determined that the decoding was successful at block 620, theUE 115 may, at block 630, determine if the DCI includes a beam switchcommand. As discussed above, in some cases, such as discussed withrespect to FIG. 3 above, the DCI may include the beam switch command ina field that is appended to other DCI fields. In some cases, such asdiscussed with respect to FIG. 4 above, a state of an activation bit mayindicate whether an appended DCI field includes a beam switch command.In still further cases, such as discussed with respect to FIG. 6 above,one or more DCI fields may be re-used to indicate a beam switch command.

If the UE 115 determines that the DCI does not include a beam switchcommand, the UE 115 may, at block 635, maintain existing beamformingparameters. The UE 115 may use such existing beamforming parameters toreceive a subsequent downlink transmission, or transmit an uplinktransmission, an allocation of which may have been received in the DCI.

If the UE 115 determines that the DCI does include a beam switchcommand, the UE 115 may, at block 640, modify its beamforming parametersbased at least in part on information in the beam switch command. Insome cases, the beam switch command may include an index of atransmission beam to be used for a subsequent transmission. The indexmay be mapped to one or more beamforming parameters or values that maybe used to derive the modified beamforming parameters, for example. Insome cases, the beam switch command may include a time indication for atime at which the beam switch is to be made. The time indication may be,for example, an indication of a subframe or transmission time interval(TTI) where the modified beamforming parameters are to be used.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a process flow 700 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In someexamples, process flow 700 may implement aspects of wirelesscommunication system 100 or 200. Process flow 700 may include thetransmission of directional beams between a base station 105-b, whichmay be an example of a base station 105 of FIG. 1 or 2, and a UE 115-b,which may be an example of a UE 115 of FIG. 1 or 2. Initially, at 705,the base station 105-b and UE 115-b may establish a connection. Such aconnection establishment may be performed using established connectionestablishment techniques.

At optional block 710, the base station 105-b may configure DCI formats.One or more of the DCI formats may be used, as discussed above, fortransmission of DCI information from the base station 105-b to the UE115-b. In some cases, the base station 105-b may configure a set ofhypotheses of DCI formats for use in blind decoding. For example, thebase station 105-b may configure a first subset of DCI formats thatincludes the one or more bit fields including the beam switch command,and a second subset of DCI formats in which the one or more bit fieldsincluding the beam switch command are absent. In some cases, the secondsubset of DCI formats may be a subset of the first subset of DCIformats. In some cases, the base station 105-b may configure anactivation bit in the DCI that may activate or deactivate bits of anappended beam switch field. In still further cases, the base station105-b may configure one or more DCI fields for re-use to indicate a beamswitch command. The base station 105-b may transmit configurationinformation 715 to the UE 115-b, such as via higher layer signaling suchas RRC signaling or in a MAC-CE.

At optional block 720, the UE 115-b may identify the configured DCIformats. In some cases, the UE 115-b may identify a set of hypotheses ofDCI formats for use in blind decoding. For example, the configurationinformation 715 may configure a first subset of DCI formats and secondsubset of DCI formats, as discussed above. In some cases, also asdiscussed above, the configuration information 715 may configure anactivation bit in the DCI that may activate or deactivate bits of anappended beam switch field. In still further cases, the configurationinformation 715 may configure one or more DCI fields for re-use toindicate a beam switch command.

At block 725, the base station 105-b may determine that a beam switch isto be performed. In some cases, such a determination may be made basedon one or more measurements associated with an uplink or downlinktransmission beam to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the one or moremeasurements may be gain measurements made on an uplink transmissionbeam or a downlink transmission beam, and the base station 105-b maydetermine that the beam switch is to be performed if a gain measurementfalls below a threshold value or below a gain measurement associatedwith another transmission beams. In some cases, the measurements may bemade based on one or more beam refinement signals transmitted from theUE 115-b or from the base station 105-b.

At block 730, the base station 105-b may select a new transmission beamfor transmissions to the UE 115-b. In some cases, the new transmissionbeam may be selected that has a higher gain than an existingtransmission beam established with the UE 115-b. In some cases, the newtransmission beam may be selected based on beamforming parameters of oneor more of the beam refinement signals.

The base station 105-b may transmit a beam switch command in DCItransmission 735, which may be transmitted using first beamformingparameters of the established transmission beam with the UE 115-b. TheDCI transmission 735 may include the beam switch command, which mayindicate that beamforming parameters for the new transmission beam. Thebeam switch command may include, for example, in indication of the newbeam (e.g., a beam index or tag), and a time for starting to use the newbeam.

At block 740, the UE 115-b may receive and decode the DCI transmission.In some cases, the DCI may be decoded according to a blind decodingoperation in which one or more blind decoding hypotheses are attemptedon the DCI to determine whether the DCI is successfully received or not.In cases, where the DCI includes a beam switch command, the beam switchcommand information may be decoded as well.

At block 745, the UE 115-b may modify its beamforming parameters. Insome cases, the beamforming parameters may be modified based on the beamswitch command that was decoded from the DCI transmission 735. In somecases, the beamforming parameters may be modified based on an index ortag in the beam switch command, which may indicate a particular set ofbeamforming parameters that are to be used for the new transmissionbeam. The beamforming parameters may also include a time at which theswitch is to be made.

The base station 105-b may transmit one or more subsequent downlinktransmission(s) 750 using the new transmission beam and modifiedbeamforming parameters. The subsequent downlink transmission(s) 750 maystart after the time indicated in the beam switch command, in somecases. The UE 115-b may receive the subsequent downlink transmission(s)750 using the modified beamforming parameters.

While the modified beamforming parameters are described as being appliedto the subsequent downlink transmission(s) 750, in some cases, one ormore uplink beamforming parameters may be modified for an associateduplink transmission beam for transmitting an uplink transmission fromthe UE 115-b to the base station 105-b. In some cases, beam reciprocitymay be used to determine the uplink beamforming parameters. In othercases, a separate beam switch command may be transmitted for switchingan uplink transmission beam, which may be identified and decoded in asimilar manner as discussed above.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a wireless device 805 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device805 may be an example of aspects of a user equipment (UE) 115 asdescribed herein. Wireless device 805 may include receiver 810, UEcommunications manager 815, and transmitter 820. Wireless device 805 mayalso include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 810 may monitor a control channel for a downlink transmission,and receive information such as packets, user data, or controlinformation associated with various information channels (e.g., controlchannels, data channels, and information related to transmission of beamswitch commands through control channel signaling, etc.). Receiver 810may receive one or more downlink transmissions via differenttransmission beams based on one or more beamforming parameters, whichmay be switched in accordance with techniques provided herein. Thereceived information may be passed on to other components of the device805. The receiver 810 may transmit at least the received information 825to UE communications manager 815 via an electrical connection (e.g., awire or a bus). The receiver 810 may be an example of aspects of thetransceiver 1135 described with reference to FIG. 11. The receiver 810may utilize a single antenna or a set of antennas, which collect theinformation from a transmitting device (e.g., a base station 105).

UE communications manager 815 may receive the information transmittedfrom receiver 810, and perform various functions described herein. UEcommunications manager 815 may be an example of aspects of the UEcommunications manager 1115 described with reference to FIG. 11.

UE communications manager 815 may receive the information 825 from thereceiver 810 via an electrical connection, and based at least in part onthe information 825, UE communications manager 815 may establish aconnection with the base station 105 using a first transmission beam,receive configuration information configuring the UE to select between afirst decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit fieldcomprising a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesiscorresponding to the DCI not including the bit field, receive a downlinkcontrol channel transmission via the first transmission beam, decode thedownlink control channel transmission in accordance with theconfiguration information to obtain decoded DCI, and communicate withthe base station 105 based at least in part on the decoded DCI.

UE communications manager 815 and/or at least some of its varioussub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executed by aprocessor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the UE communicationsmanager 815 and/or at least some of its various sub-components may beexecuted by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), anfield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device,discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described in thepresent disclosure. The UE communications manager 815 and/or at leastsome of its various sub-components may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, UE communications manager 815 and/or at leastsome of its various sub-components may be a separate and distinctcomponent in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In other examples, UE communications manager 815 and/or at least some ofits various sub-components may be combined with one or more otherhardware components, including but not limited to an I/O component, atransceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or moreother components described in the present disclosure, or a combinationthereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

In some examples, UE communications manager 815 may establish aconnection with a base station using a first transmission beam, receivea downlink control channel transmission via the first transmission beamincluding downlink control information (DCI) in a DCI format, the DCIformat including one or more bit fields including a beam switch commandto switch from the first transmission beam to a second transmissionbeam, and modify one or more beamforming parameters based on the beamswitch command.

Transmitter 820 may receive signals generated by other components of thedevice 805, and transmit at least the received signals to othercomponents of the device 805, or a base station 105. In some example,transmitter 820 may receive a signal including at least one or morebeamforming parameters 830 modified based on a beam switch command viaan electrical connection. Transmitter 820 may then transmit uplinktransmission based on the modified one or more beamforming parameters.In some examples, the transmitter 820 may be collocated with a receiver810 in a transceiver module. For example, the transmitter 820 may be anexample of aspects of the transceiver 1135 described with reference toFIG. 11. The transmitter 820 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram 900 of a wireless device 905 that supportstransmission of beam switch commands through control channel signalingin accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wireless device905 may be an example of aspects of a wireless device 805 or a UE 115 asdescribed with reference to FIG. 8. Wireless device 905 may includereceiver 910, UE communications manager 915, and transmitter 920.Wireless device 905 may also include a processor. Each of thesecomponents may be in communication with one another (e.g., via one ormore buses).

Receiver 910 may monitor a control channel for a downlink transmission,and receive information such as packets, user data, or controlinformation associated with various information channels (e.g., controlchannels, data channels, and information related to transmission of beamswitch commands through control channel signaling, etc.) from a basestation 105. For example, receiver 910 may monitor multiple sets ofcontrol resources configured for the UE 115 according to decodinghypotheses configured per set of control resources. The receivedinformation may be passed on to other components of the device 905.Receiver 910 may transmit at least the received information 940 to UEcommunications manager 915 or one or more of components of UEcommunications manager 915 via an electrical connection (e.g., a wire ora bus). The receiver 910 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1135 described with reference to FIG. 11. The receiver 910 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

UE communications manager 915 may receive the information 940transmitted from the receiver 910 via the electrical connection, and maydirect the received information to one or more components of UEcommunications manager 915. Based at least in part on the informationtransmitted from the receiver 910, UE communications manager 915 mayestablish a connection with the base station 105 using a firsttransmission beam, receive configuration information configuring the UEto select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCIincluding a bit field comprising a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield, receive a downlink control channel transmission via the firsttransmission beam, decode the downlink control channel transmission inaccordance with the configuration information to obtain decoded DCI, andcommunicate with the base station based at least in part on the decodedDCI. In some cases, UE communications manager 915 may transmit one ormore beamforming parameters 945 to transmitter 920 via an electricalconnection.

UE communications manager 915 may be an example of aspects of the UEcommunications manager 1115 described with reference to FIG. 11. UEcommunications manager 915 may also include transmission beam manager925, DCI manager 930, and beam switching component 935. Each of thesemodules may communicate directly or indirectly with one another (e.g.,via one or more buses).

Transmission beam manager 925 may receive the information transmittedfrom the receiver 910, and may establish a connection with the basestation 105 using a first transmission beam. The connection may beestablished according to known connection establishment techniques. Insome cases the first transmission beam may be established following abeam sweep procedure, a beam refinement procedure, or both. The firsttransmission beam may be established using a first set of beamformingparameters for a directional first transmission beam in a firstdirection.

DCI manager 930 may receive configuration information configuring the UEto select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCIincluding a bit field comprising a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield, and receive a downlink control channel transmission via the firsttransmission beam from the receiver 910 or transmission beam manager925. In some cases, the configuration information may includeinformation that multiple sets of control resources are configured forthe UE 115. In some examples, the configuration information mayconfigure the UE 115 to select the first decoding hypothesis in a firstset of control resources and the second decoding hypothesis in a secondset of control resources that is different from the first set of controlresources. The first decoding hypothesis may correspond to a first setof control resources and the second decoding hypothesis may correspondto a second set of control resources. As such, DCI manager 930 maydecode the first set of control resources using the first decodinghypothesis or decode the second set of control resources using thesecond decoding hypothesis. DCI manager 930 may then decode the downlinkcontrol channel transmission in accordance with the configurationinformation to obtain decoded DCI. DCI manager 930 may then transmit thedecoded DCI to transmission beam manager 925 via a bus (not shown). Insome cases, DCI manager 930 may identify the beam switch command basedat least in part on the decoded DCI, and transmit the beam switchcommand to beam switching component 935 via a bus (not shown).

In some cases, the downlink control channel transmission may include DCIin a DCI format, where the DCI format includes one or more bit fieldsincluding a beam switch command to switch from the first transmissionbeam to a second transmission beam. In some cases, the DCI manager 930may identify the DCI format and the one or more bit fields including thebeam switch command based on a successful blind decoding operation,decode the DCI according to the identified DCI format. In some cases,the DCI manager 930 may identify that a subset of one or more bit fieldsof a first DCI format includes the beam switch command, and may decodethe beam switch command based on such an identification.

In some cases, the identifying is based on one of more of aconfiguration of the first DCI format, a transmission rank indicator, oran indication provided in radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Insome cases, a reserved bit field is appended to one or more other bitfields of the DCI format. In some cases, DCI manager 930 may receiveconfiguration information that includes a first subset of DCI formatsthat include the one or more bit fields including the beam switchcommand, and a second subset of DCI formats in which the one or more bitfields including the beam switch command are absent. In some cases, theDCI manager 930 decode a first portion of the DCI, the first portionincluding an activation bit that indicates that a beam switch DCI fieldis appended to the DCI, and decode the beam switch DCI field based on astate of the activation bit. DCI manager 930 may transmit to beamswitching component 935, information including at least the identifiedDCI format, one or more bit fields including the beam switch command, ordecoded beam switch DCI field.

Beam switching component 935 may receive the beam switch commandtransmitted from DCI manager 930, and modify one or more beamformingparameters based on the beam switch command. In some cases, the beamswitching component 935 may identify one or more beamforming parametersbased on the beam switch command. In some cases, the beam switch commandincludes one or more of a beam index or a beam tag that is mapped to theone or more beamforming parameters, and timing information indicatingwhen the second transmission beam is to be used. Beam switchingcomponent 935 may transmit information including at least the modifiedone or more beamforming parameters 945 based on the beam switch commandto transmitter 920 via an electrical connection (e.g., a wire or a bus).

Transmitter 920 may receive signals generated by other components of thedevice 905 via one or more electrical connections, and transmit thereceived signals to other components of the device 905, or the basestation 105. In some cases, transmitter 920 may receive one or morebeamforming parameters 945 modified based on the beam switch commandfrom beam switching component 935 via an electrical connection.Transmitter 920 may then transmit uplink transmission based at least inpart on the modified one or more beamforming parameters to the basestation 105. In some examples, the transmitter 920 may be collocatedwith a receiver 910 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 920 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 1135described with reference to FIG. 11. The transmitter 920 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram 1000 of UE communications manager 1015that supports transmission of beam switch commands through controlchannel signaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.UE communications manager 1015 may be an example of aspects of UEcommunications manager 815, UE communications manager 915, or UEcommunications manager 1115 described with reference to FIGS. 8, 9, and11.

UE communications manager 1015 may receive information from a receiver(e.g., receiver 810, receiver 910, or transceiver 1135 in FIGS. 8, 9,and 11, respectively), and may direct the received information to one ormore components of UE communications manager 1015. Based at least inpart on the information, UE communications manager 915 may establish aconnection with the base station 105 using a first transmission beam,receive configuration information configuring the UE to select between afirst decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit fieldcomprising a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesiscorresponding to the DCI not including the bit field, receive a downlinkcontrol channel transmission via the first transmission beam, decode thedownlink control channel transmission in accordance with theconfiguration information to obtain decoded DCI, and communicate withthe base station based at least in part on the decoded DCI.

UE communications manager 1015 may include transmission beam manager1020, DCI manager 1025, beam switching component 1030, blind decodingcomponent 1035, and configuration manager 1040. Each of these modulesmay communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via oneor more buses).

Transmission beam manager 1020 may control receiver 810, 910, or 1135 toestablish a connection with base station 105 using a first transmissionbeam. The connection may be established according to known connectionestablishment techniques. In some cases, the first transmission beam maybe established following a beam sweep procedure, a beam refinementprocedure, or both. The first transmission beam may be established usinga first set of beamforming parameters for a directional firsttransmission beam in a first direction. Transmission beam manager 1020may control operation of receiver 810, 910, or 1135 for receivingsignals from base station 105 via the established connection using thefirst transmission beam in accordance with a set of beamformingparameters.

Configuration manager 1040 may receive, via receiver 810, 910, or 1135,signaling 1045 that includes an RRC message or a DCI message, and obtainconfiguration information 1050 from the signaling 1045. Configurationmanager 1040 may configure the blind decoding component 1035 fordecoding DCI in accordance with the configuration information 1050. Insome cases, configuration manager 1040 may pass to blind decodingcomponent 1035, via an electrical connection, configuration information1050 that includes a set of one or more decoding hypotheses, a set ofone or more DCI formats, a subset of a set of DCI formats, whichdecoding hypothesis to use for a given DCI format or set of DCI formats,or the like. For example, configuration manager 1040 may use theconfiguration information 1050 to configure the blind decoding component1035 to select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCIincluding a bit field comprising a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield. In some cases, configuration information 1050 may indicate a setof DCI formats available to be used for decoding a downlink controlchannel transmission by the blind decoding component 1035. In somecases, configuration information 1050 may indicate that a subset of DCIformats is to be used as a blind decoding hypothesis set for blinddecoding operations. In some cases, configuration information 1050 mayidentify a first subset of DCI formats and a second subset of DCIformats, and that one or both of the first subset of DCI formats and thesecond subset of DCI formats are to be used as a blind decodinghypothesis set for blind decoding operations.

Blind decoding component 1035 may also receive, via receiver 810, 910,or 1135, a downlink control channel transmission 1055 and decode thedownlink control channel transmission 1055 in accordance with theconfiguration information 1050 received from the configuration manager1040 to obtain decoded DCI 1060. In some cases, blind decoding component1035 may perform one or more blind decoding operations based on a set ofDCI formats indicated in the configuration information 1050. In somecases, the downlink control channel transmission 1055 may include DCI ina DCI format, where the DCI format includes one or more bit fieldsincluding a beam switch command to switch from the first transmissionbeam to a second transmission beam. In some cases, a reserved bit fieldmay be identified based on blind decoding the DCI according to a firsthypothesis that the reserved field is absent from the DCI, blinddecoding the DCI according to a second hypothesis that the reservedfield is present in the DCI, or both if blind decoding component 1035 isunsuccessful in decoding the DCI using an initial blind decodinghypothesis. Blind decoding component 1035 may then pass the decoded DCI1060 to DCI manager 1025 via an electrical connection.

DCI manager 1025 may receive and process the decoded DCI 1060. DCImanager 1025 may identify the DCI format and the one or more bit fieldsincluding the beam switch command based on a successful blind decodingoperation. In some cases, the DCI manager 1025 may identify that asubset of one or more bit fields of a first DCI format include the beamswitch command. In some cases, the identifying is based on configurationinformation 1050 received from configuration manager 1040. In somecases, DCI manager 1025 may identify the one or more bit fields based atleast in part on one or more of a configuration of a DCI format, atransmission rank indicator, or an indication provided in radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling.

In some cases, a reserved bit field is appended to one or more other bitfields of the DCI format. In some cases, a first subset of DCI formatsmay include the one or more bit fields including the beam switchcommand, and a second subset of DCI formats in which the one or more bitfields including the beam switch command are absent. In some cases, theDCI manager 1025 may process a first portion of the decoded DCI 1060,the first portion including an activation bit that indicates that a beamswitch DCI field is appended to the DCI, and then process the beamswitch DCI field based on a state of the activation bit. DCI manager1025 may pass information 1070 including a decoded beam switch commandand/or a beam switch DCI field to beam switching component 1030 via anelectrical connection (e.g., a wire or a bus).

Beam switching component 1030 may receive the information 1070 from DCImanager 1025, and modify one or more beamforming parameters based on theinformation 1070 (e.g., the decoded beam switch command). In some cases,the beam switching component 1030 may identify one or more beamformingparameters based on the beam switch command. In some cases, the beamswitch command includes one or more of a beam index or a beam tag thatis mapped to the one or more beamforming parameters, and timinginformation indicating when the second transmission beam is to be used.Beam switching component 1030 may pass the modified one or morebeamforming parameters 1075 to the transmission beam manager 1020 via anelectrical connection.

Transmission beam manager 1020 may receive the modified one or morebeamforming parameters 1075 and then output instructions 1080 toreceiver 810, 910, or 1135 that indicates the modified one or morebeamforming parameters. The receiver 810, 910, or 1135 may receivesubsequent downlink control and/or data channel transmissions from thebase station 105 in accordance with the modified one or more beamformingparameters.

FIG. 11 shows a diagram of a system 1100 including a device 1105 thatsupports transmission of beam switch commands through control channelsignaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device1105 may be an example of or include the components of wireless device805, wireless device 905, or a UE 115 as described above, e.g., withreference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Device 1105 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, including UE communicationsmanager 1115, processor 1120, memory 1125, software 1130, transceiver1135, antenna 1140, and I/O controller 1145. These components may be inelectronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1110). Device1105 may communicate wirelessly with one or more base stations 105.

UE communications manager 1115 may establish a connection with the basestation 105 using a first transmission beam, receive configurationinformation configuring the UE to select between a first decodinghypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit field including a beamswitch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCInot including the bit field, receive a downlink control channeltransmission using the first transmission beam, decode the downlinkcontrol channel transmission in accordance with the configurationinformation to obtain decoded DCI, and communicate with the base stationbased at least in part on the decoded DCI.

Processor 1120 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a central processing unit (CPU), amicrocontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, adiscrete gate or transistor logic component, a discrete hardwarecomponent, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 1120may be configured to operate a memory array using a memory controller.In other cases, a memory controller may be integrated into processor1120. Processor 1120 may be electrically coupled to memory 1125 via bus1110, and configured to execute computer-readable instructions (e.g.,software 1130) stored in a memory 1125 to cause the device 1105 toperform various functions. For example, processor 1120 may receive adownlink control channel transmission including a DCI in a DCI formatfrom transceiver 1135 via bus 1110, and may cause UE communicationsmanager 1115, electrically coupled to processor 1120 via bus 1110, toperform a beam switching operation based on a beam switch command, ifany, included in the received downlink control channel transmission. Insome cases, processor 1120 may be electrically coupled to I/O controller1145 via an bus 1110, and cause I/O controller 1145 to manage input andoutput signals for device 1105.

Memory 1125 may include random access memory (RAM) and read only memory(ROM). The memory 1125 may store computer-readable, computer-executablesoftware 1130 including instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessor to perform various functions described herein. In some cases,the memory 1125 may contain, among other things, a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) which may control basic hardware or software operationsuch as the interaction with peripheral components or devices.

Software 1130 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support transmission of beam switchcommands through control channel signaling. Software 1130 may be storedin a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory orother memory. In some cases, the software 1130 may not be directlyexecutable by the processor but may cause a computer (e.g., whencompiled and executed) to perform functions described herein.

Transceiver 1135 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 1135 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1135 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and todemodulate packets received from the antennas. In some cases,transceiver 1135 may receive a downlink control channel transmissionincluding a DCI in a DCI format from antenna 1140 via bus 1110, andtransmit the received downlink control channel transmission to processor1120, which in turn causes UE communications manager 1115 to decode thereceived DCI format.

In some cases, the wireless device 1105 may include a single antenna1140. However, in some cases the device 1105 may have more than oneantenna 1140, which may be capable of concurrently transmitting orreceiving multiple wireless transmissions.

I/O controller 1145 may manage input and output signals for device 1105.I/O controller 1145 may also manage peripherals not integrated intodevice 1105. In some cases, I/O controller 1145 may represent a physicalconnection or port to an external peripheral. In some cases, I/Ocontroller 1145 may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®,MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, or another known operatingsystem. In other cases, I/O controller 1145 may represent or interactwith a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, a touchscreen, or a similar device.In some cases, I/O controller 1145 may be implemented as part of aprocessor. In some cases, a user may interact with device 1105 via I/Ocontroller 1145 or via hardware components controlled by I/O controller1145.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram 1200 of a wireless device 1205 thatsupports transmission of beam switch commands through control channelsignaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wirelessdevice 1205 may be an example of aspects of a base station 105 asdescribed herein. Wireless device 1205 may include receiver 1210, basestation communications manager 1215, and transmitter 1220. Wirelessdevice 1205 may also include a processor. Each of these components maybe in communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 1210 may monitor a control channel for an uplink transmission,and receive information such as packets, user data, or controlinformation associated with various information channels (e.g., controlchannels, data channels, and information related to transmission of beamswitch commands through control channel signaling, etc.) from a UE 115.Information may be passed on to other components of the device 1205.Receiver 1210 may transmit the received information 1225 to base stationcommunications manager 1215 or one or more of components of base stationcommunications manager 1215 via an electrical connection (e.g., a wireor a bus). Receiver 1210 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1535 described with reference to FIG. 15. Receiver 1210 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

Base station communications manager 1215 may receive the information1225 transmitted from the receiver 1210 via the electrical connection.Base station communications manager 1215 may establish a connection witha UE 115 using a first transmission beam, transmit configurationinformation to configure the UE 115 to select between a first decodinghypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit field comprising a beamswitch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCInot including the bit field, generate a downlink control channeltransmission 1230 in accordance with the configuration information, andtransmitter 1220 may transmit the downlink control channel transmission1230 using the first transmission beam received from the base stationcommunications manager 1215 via an electrical connection. Transmitter1220 in turn transmits the downlink control channel transmission 1230 tothe UE 115 using the first transmission beam. Base stationcommunications manager 1215 may be an example of aspects of the basestation communications manager 1515 described with reference to FIG. 15.

Base station communications manager 1215 and/or at least some of itsvarious sub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executedby a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented insoftware executed by a processor, the functions of the base stationcommunications manager 1215 and/or at least some of its varioussub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, anASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described in the presentdisclosure. Base station communications manager 1215 and/or at leastsome of its various sub-components may be physically located at variouspositions, including being distributed such that portions of functionsare implemented at different physical locations by one or more physicaldevices. In some examples, base station communications manager 1215and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be a separate anddistinct component in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In other examples, base station communications manager 1215and/or at least some of its various sub-components may be combined withone or more other hardware components, including but not limited to anI/O component, a transceiver, a network server, another computingdevice, one or more other components described in the presentdisclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance with various aspectsof the present disclosure.

In some cases, base station communications manager 1215 may establish aconnection with a UE using a first transmission beam, determine that theUE is to be switched from the first transmission beam to a secondtransmission beam, and format a downlink control channel transmissionincluding DCI in a DCI format, the DCI format including one or more bitfields including a beam switch command to switch from the firsttransmission beam to the second transmission beam.

Transmitter 1220 may receive and transmit signals generated by othercomponents of the device 1205. In some cases, transmitter 1220 mayreceive the configuration information transmitted from base stationcommunications manager 1215 for transmitting the configurationinformation to the UE 115 via the first transmission beam. Theconfiguration may indicate that multiple sets of control resources areconfigured for the UE 115. In some examples, the transmitter 1220 may becollocated with a receiver 1210 in a transceiver module. For example,the transmitter 1220 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1535 described with reference to FIG. 15. The transmitter 1220 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas. Transmitter 1220 maytransmit the downlink control channel transmission to the UE via thefirst transmission beam.

FIG. 13 shows a block diagram 1300 of a wireless device 1305 thatsupports transmission of beam switch commands through control channelsignaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Wirelessdevice 1305 may be an example of aspects of a wireless device 1205 or abase station 105 as described with reference to FIG. 12. Wireless device1305 may include receiver 1310, base station communications manager1315, and transmitter 1320. Wireless device 1305 may also include aprocessor. Each of these components may be in communication with oneanother (e.g., via one or more buses).

Receiver 1310 may monitor a control channel for uplink transmission, andreceive information such as packets, user data, or control informationassociated with various information channels (e.g., control channels,data channels, and information related to transmission of beam switchcommands through control channel signaling, etc.). The receivedinformation 1340 may be passed on to other components of the device.Receiver 1310 may transmit at least the received information 1340 tobase station communications manager 1315 via an electrical connection(e.g., a wire or a bus). Receiver 1310 may be an example of aspects ofthe transceiver 1535 described with reference to FIG. 15. Receiver 1310may utilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

Base station communications manager 1315 may receive the information1340 transmitted from the receiver 1310 via the electrical connection,and may direct the received information to one or more components ofbase station communications manager 1315. Base station communicationsmanager 1315 may establish a connection with a UE 115 using a firsttransmission beam, transmit configuration information to configure theUE 115 to select between a first decoding hypothesis corresponding toDCI including a bit field comprising a beam switch command and a seconddecoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI not including the bitfield, generate a downlink control channel transmission 1345 inaccordance with the configuration information, and transmitter 1320 mayreceive the downlink control channel transmission 1345 via an electricalconnection. Transmitter 1320 in turn transmits the downlink controlchannel transmission to the UE 115 using the first transmission beam.Base station communications manager 1315 may be an example of aspects ofthe base station communications manager 1515 described with reference toFIG. 15. Base station communications manager 1315 may also includetransmission beam manager 1325, beam switching component 1330, and DCImanager 1335. Each of these components may be in communication with oneanother (e.g., via one or more buses).

Transmission beam manager 1325 may receive at least the informationtransmitted from receiver 1310, and may establish a connection with a UE115 using a first transmission beam. The connection may be establishedaccording to known connection establishment techniques. In some cases,the first transmission beam may be established following a beam sweepprocedure, a beam refinement procedure, or both. The first transmissionbeam may be established using a first set of beamforming parameters fora directional first transmission beam in a first direction. Transmissionbeam manager 1325 may transmit information including at least theestablished connection to one or more components of base stationcommunications manager 1315 via a bus.

Beam switching component 1330 may determine that the UE 115 is to beswitched from the first transmission beam to a second transmission beambased at least in part on the information transmitted from receiver1310. In some cases, beam switching component 1330 may identify one ormore of a beam index or a beam tag that are mapped to one or morebeamforming parameters of the second transmission beam, and timinginformation indicating when the second transmission beam is to be used.This information may be included in a beam switch command. Beamswitching component 1330 may pass at least the beam switch command totransmitter 1320 for transmitting the beam switch command to the UE 115via the first transmission beam.

DCI manager 1335 may format the downlink control channel transmissionincluding a DCI using a DCI format from a set of DCI formats availablefor the downlink control channel transmission, and transmit the downlinkcontrol channel transmission including the DCI to transmission beammanager 1325 or to transmitter 1320. In some cases, DCI manager 1335 mayformat a downlink control channel transmission including DCI in a DCIformat based at least in part on the information transmitted fromreceiver 1310 or one or more signals received from other components ofbase station communications manager 1315 or the wireless device 1305.The DCI format may include one or more bit fields including a beamswitch command to switch from the first transmission beam to the secondtransmission beam.

In some cases, the DCI manager 1335 may format a reserved bit field inthe DCI format to include the beam switch command. In some cases, thereserved bit field is appended to one or more other bit fields of theDCI format. In some cases, the DCI manager 1335 may format the downlinkcontrol channel transmission by encoding a first portion of the DCI, thefirst portion including an activation bit that indicates that a beamswitch DCI field is appended to the DCI, and encoding the beam switchDCI field based on a state of the activation bit. In some cases, the DCImanager 1335 may format the downlink control channel transmission byreusing one or more bit fields of the DCI format to indicate the beamswitch command. DCI manager 1335 may transmit information including atleast the formatted downlink control channel transmission including DCIto at least transmission beam manager 1325 via an electrical connectionor transmitter 1320 for transmitting at least the information to one ormore UEs 115.

Transmitter 1320 may receive and transmit signals generated by othercomponents of the device 1305. In some cases, transmitter 1320 mayreceive the downlink control channel transmission from DCI manager 1335for transmitting the downlink control channel transmission to the UE 115via the first transmission beam. In some examples, the transmitter 1320may be collocated with a receiver 1310 in a transceiver module. Forexample, the transmitter 1320 may be an example of aspects of thetransceiver 1535 described with reference to FIG. 15. The transmitter1320 may utilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 14 shows a block diagram 1400 of a base station communicationsmanager 1415 that supports transmission of beam switch commands throughcontrol channel signaling in accordance with aspects of the presentdisclosure. Base station communications manager 1415 may establish aconnection with a UE 115 using a first transmission beam, transmitconfiguration information to configure the UE 115 to select between afirst decoding hypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit fieldcomprising a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesiscorresponding to the DCI not including the bit field, generate adownlink control channel transmission in accordance with theconfiguration information, and transmit the downlink control channeltransmission using the first transmission beam to the UE 115 via atransmitter (e.g., transmitter 1220, transmitter 1320 or transceiver1535 described with reference to FIGS. 12, 13 and 15). Base stationcommunications manager 1415 may be an example of aspects of base stationcommunications manager 1215, 1315, and 1515 described with reference toFIGS. 12, 13, and 15. Base station communications manager 1415 mayinclude transmission beam manager 1420, beam switching component 1425,DCI manager 1430, and configuration manager 1435. Each of these modulesmay communicate, directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via oneor more buses).

Transmission beam manager 1420 may control transmitter 1220, 1320, or1535 to establish a connection with a UE 115 using a first transmissionbeam. The connection may be established according to known connectionestablishment techniques. In some cases, the first transmission beam maybe established following a beam sweep procedure, a beam refinementprocedure, or both. The first transmission beam may be established usinga first set of beamforming parameters for a directional firsttransmission beam in a first direction.

Configuration manager 1435 may generate configuration information 1450for configuring the UE 115 to select between a first decoding hypothesiscorresponding to downlink control information (DCI) including a bitfield comprising a beam switch command and a second decoding hypothesiscorresponding to the DCI not including the bit field. In some cases,configuration information 1450 may include that multiple sets of controlresources are configured for the UE 115. In an example, theconfiguration information may configure the UE 115 to select the firstdecoding hypothesis in a first set of control resources and the seconddecoding hypothesis in a second set of control resources that isdifferent from the first set of control resources. In such case, thefirst decoding hypothesis may correspond to a first set of controlresources and the second decoding hypothesis may correspond to a secondset of control resources. As such, the UE 115 may use the first decodinghypothesis to decode the first set of control resources or the seconddecoding hypothesis to decode the second set of control resources. Insome cases, configuration information 1450 may indicate a set of DCIformats available for a downlink control channel transmission. In somecases, configuration information 1450 may include an indication that asubset of DCI formats is to be used as a blind decoding hypothesis setfor a downlink control channel transmission, or that both a first subsetof DCI formats and a second subset of DCI formats are to be used as theblind decoding hypothesis set for the downlink control channeltransmission. In some cases, configuration information 1450 may includean indication that one or more bit fields are reused for a beam switchcommand. In some cases, configuration information 1450 may indicate oneof more of a configuration of a DCI format, a transmission rankindication, or the like. In some cases, the set of DCI formats availablefor the downlink control channel transmission includes a first subset ofDCI formats that include the one or more bit fields including the beamswitch command, and a second subset of DCI formats in which the one ormore bit fields including the beam switch command are absent.

In some cases, configuration manager 1435 may pass the configurationinformation 1450 to transmission beam manager 1420, to cause thetransmitter 1220, 1320, or 1535 to transmit the configurationinformation 1450 to the UE 115 in RRC signaling. In some cases,configuration manager 1435 may transmit the configuration information1450 to the DCI Manager 1430 for generating DCI corresponding to a blinddecoding process to be performed at the UE 115.

Beam switching component 1425 may receive channel information 1455(e.g., CQI) from UE 115 via the established connection using the firstbeam (e.g., via transceiver 1535). Beam switching component 1425 maydetermine that the UE 115 is to be switched from the first transmissionbeam to a second transmission beam based at least on the receivedchannel information 1455. In some cases, beam switching component 1425may identify one or more of a beam index or a beam tag that are mappedto one or more beamforming parameters of the second transmission beam,and timing information indicating when the second transmission beam isto be used. Some or all of this information may be included in a beamswitch command 1460 for transmission to the UE 115 in DCI. Beamswitching component 1425 may transmit information including at least thebeam switch command 1460 to DCI manager 1430 via an electricalconnection.

DCI manager 1430 may receive the configuration information 1450 fromconfiguration manager 1435 and the beam switch command 1460 from thebeam switching component 1425. In some cases, DCI manager 1430 mayformat a downlink control channel transmission including DCI inaccordance with the configuration information 1450 and the beam switchcommand 1460. In some cases, DCI manager 1430 may format a downlinkcontrol channel transmission including DCI using a DCI format from a setof DCI formats available for the downlink control channel transmission,the set of DCI format configured in accordance with the configurationinformation 1450. In some cases, DCI manager 1430 may format a downlinkcontrol channel transmission including DCI in a DCI format, the DCIformat including one or more bit fields including a beam switch commandto switch from the first transmission beam to the second transmissionbeam.

In some cases, the DCI manager 1430 may format a reserved bit field inthe DCI format to include a beam switch command. In some cases, thereserved bit field is appended to one or more other bit fields of theDCI format. In some cases, the DCI manager 1430 may format the downlinkcontrol channel transmission by encoding a first portion of the DCI, thefirst portion including an activation bit that indicates that a beamswitch DCI field is appended to the DCI, and encoding the beam switchDCI field based on a state of the activation bit. In some cases, the DCImanager 1430 may format the downlink control channel transmission byreusing one or more bit fields of the DCI format to indicate the beamswitch command. DCI manager 1430 may transmit information 1465 includingat least the formatted downlink control channel transmission includingDCI to transmission beam manager 1420 via an electrical connection forhaving the transmitter (e.g., transmitter 1220, 1320, and 1535 of FIGS.12, 13, and 15) transmit the formatted downlink control channeltransmission 1470 to one or more UEs 115 via the first or othertransmission beam.

FIG. 15 shows a diagram of a system 1500 including a device 1505 thatsupports transmission of beam switch commands through control channelsignaling in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Device1505 may be an example of or include the components of base station 105as described above, e.g., with reference to FIG. 1. Device 1505 mayinclude components for bi-directional voice and data communicationsincluding components for transmitting and receiving communications,including base station communications manager 1515, processor 1520,memory 1525, software 1530, transceiver 1535, antenna 1540, networkcommunications manager 1545, and inter-station communications manager1550. These components may be in electronic communication via bus 1510.

Base station communications manager 1515 may establish a connection witha UE 115 using a first transmission beam, transmit configurationinformation to configure the UE 115 to select between a first decodinghypothesis corresponding to DCI including a bit field comprising a beamswitch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCInot including the bit field, generate a downlink control channeltransmission in accordance with the configuration information, andtransmit the downlink control channel transmission to the UE 115 usingthe first transmission beam. In some cases, base station communicationsmanager 1515 may transmit the downlink control channel transmission totransceiver 1535 via bus 1510, and transceiver 1535 may in turn transmitthe downlink control channel transmission to antenna 1540 via bus 1510.Antenna 1540 may then transmit the downlink control channel transmissionto the UE 115 using the first transmission beam.

Processor 1520 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, processor 1520 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into processor 1520. Processor 1520 may be configured toexecute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory 1525,electrically coupled to processor 1520 via a bus 1510, to performvarious functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling). In some cases,processor 1520 may execute the instructions based on the information(e.g., CQI) transmitted by transceiver 1535 via bus 1510. In some cases,processor 1520 may cause base station communications manager 1515,electrically coupled to processor 1520 via a bus 1510, to performvarious functions described herein (e.g., formatting downlink controlchannel transmission including a DCI in a DCI format including a beamswitch command). In some cases, processor 1520 may execute theinstructions based on signals received from network communicationsmanager 1545 via bus 1510 or inter-station communications manager 1550via bus 1510 for managing communications with a core network 130 and oneor more other base stations 105, respectively.

Memory 1525 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1525 may storecomputer-readable, computer-executable software 1530 includinginstructions that, when executed, cause the processor 1520 to performvarious functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 1525 maycontain, among other things, a BIOS which may control basic hardware orsoftware operation such as the interaction with peripheral components ordevices.

Software 1530 may include code to implement aspects of the presentdisclosure, including code to support transmission of beam switchcommands through control channel signaling. Software 1530 may be storedin a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory orother memory. In some cases, the software 1530 may not be directlyexecutable by the processor but may cause a computer (e.g., whencompiled and executed) to perform functions described herein.

Transceiver 1535 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 1535 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1535 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and todemodulate packets received from the antennas. In some cases,transceiver 1535 may transmit a downlink control channel transmissionincluding a beam switch command to UE via antenna 1540.

In some cases, the wireless device 1505 may include a single antenna1540. However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna1540, which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receivingmultiple wireless transmissions.

Network communications manager 1545 may manage communications with thecore network (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example,the network communications manager 1545 may manage the transfer of datacommunications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

Inter-station communications manager 1550 may manage communications withother base station 105, and may include a controller or scheduler forcontrolling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with other basestations 105. For example, the inter-station communications manager 1550may coordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, inter-station communications manager1550 may provide an X2 interface within an Long Term Evolution(LTE)/LTE-A wireless communication network technology to providecommunication between base stations 105.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1600may be implemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein.For example, the operations of method 1600 may be performed by a UEcommunications manager 815, 915, 1015, and 1115 as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11. In some examples, a UE 115 may executea set of codes to control the functional elements of the device toperform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively,the UE 115 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At block 1605, the UE 115 may establish a connection with a base station105 using a first transmission beam. The operations of block 1605 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some cases, theconnection may be established following a beam sweep procedure, a beamrefinement procedure, or both. In some cases, the first transmission maybe established with a first set of beamforming parameters that providethe first transmission beam in a first direction. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1605 may be performed by atransmission beam manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

At block 1610, the UE 115 may monitor a control channel for downlinktransmission, and receive a downlink control channel transmission viathe first transmission beam including downlink control information (DCI)in a DCI format. The DCI format may include one or more bit fieldsincluding a beam switch command to switch from the first transmissionbeam to a second transmission beam. The operations of block 1610 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some cases, theDCI format may be identified using a blind decoding process in which oneor more blind decoding hypotheses of a blind decoding hypothesis set areattempted. In some cases, the DCI may include a reserved bit field thatincludes the beam switch command, which is appended to one or more otherDCI bit fields. In some cases, the DCI may include one or more re-usedDCI bit fields to indicate the beam switch command. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1610 may be performed by a DCImanager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1615, the UE 115 may modify one or more beamforming parametersbased at least in part on the beam switch command. The operations ofblock 1615 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In some cases, the one or more beamforming parameters may be modifiedbased on the beam switch command. In some cases, the beam switch commandmay include a beam index or tag that indicates the modified beamformingparameters. The beam index or tag may be associated, in some examples,to a beam refinement signal that is associated with the modified one ormore beamforming parameters. In some cases, the beam switch command mayalso include a time that indicates when the modified beamformingparameters are to be used. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of block 1615 may be performed by a beam switching componentas described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1620, the UE 115 may receive one or more subsequent downlinktransmissions via the second transmission beam. The operations of block1620 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In somecases, the one or more subsequent downlink transmissions may include oneor more downlink transmissions that may include data of controlinformation. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block1620 may be performed by a receiver as described with reference to FIGS.8 through 11.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1700may be implemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein.For example, the operations of method 1700 may be performed by a UEcommunications manager 815, 915, 1015, and 1115 as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11. In some examples, a UE 115 may executea set of codes to control the functional elements of the device toperform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively,the UE 115 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At block 1705, the UE 115 may establish a connection with a base station105 using a first transmission beam. The operations of block 1705 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some cases, theconnection may be established following a beam sweep procedure, a beamrefinement procedure, or both. In some cases, the first transmission maybe established with a first set of beamforming parameters that providethe first transmission beam in a first direction. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1705 may be performed by atransmission beam manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

At block 1710, the UE 115 may receive configuration informationindicating a set of DCI formats available for the downlink controlchannel transmission. The operations of block 1710 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In some cases, theconfiguration information may be received in higher layer signaling,such as RRC signaling, or in a MAC-CE transmitted from a base station.In some cases, the configuration information may indicate that certainsubsets of DCI information are available for blind decoding operations.In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1710 may beperformed by a configuration manager as described with reference toFIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1715, the UE 115 may receive an indication that the secondsubset of DCI formats is to be used as a blind decoding hypothesis setfor the blind decoding operations, or that both a first subset of DCIformats and a second subset of DCI formats are to be used as the blinddecoding hypothesis set for the blind decoding operations. Theoperations of block 1715 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some cases, the first subset of DCI formats mayinclude DCI formats that do not include a beam switch command, and thesecond subset of DCI formats may include DCI formats that include thebeam switch command in addition to DCI formats that do not include thebeam switch command. The UE may limit the hypotheses used in blinddecoding operations based on the indicated set of subset of DCI formats,in some cases. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block1715 may be performed by a configuration manager as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1720, the UE 115 may perform one or more blind decodingoperations based at least in part on the set of DCI formats. Theoperations of block 1720 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some cases, the UE 115 may attempt to blindlydecode the DCI according to a first decoding hypothesis, and dependingupon whether the decoding is successful, attempt decoding on one or moreother blind decoding hypotheses. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of block 1720 may be performed by a blind decoding componentas described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1725, the UE 115 may identify the DCI format and the one ormore bit fields comprising the beam switch command based at least inpart on a successful blind decoding operation. The operations of block1725 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In somecases, the identified DCI format may include one or more DCI fields andthe beam switch command may be appended to the one or more DCI fields.In some cases, the beam switch command may be included in bits of a DCIfield that are re-used for the beam switch command. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1725 may be performed by a DCImanager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1730, the UE 115 may modify one or more beamforming parametersbased at least in part on the beam switch command. The operations ofblock 1730 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In some cases, the one or more beamforming parameters may be modifiedbased on information in the beam switch command. Such information mayinclude, for example, a beam index or tag that is associated with themodified beamforming parameters. In some cases, the beam index of tagmay be associated with a beam refinement signal of one or more uplink ordownlink transmissions. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof block 1730 may be performed by a beam switching component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1735, the UE 115 may receive one or more subsequent downlinktransmissions via the second transmission beam. The operations of block1735 may be performed according to the methods described herein. Incertain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1735 may beperformed by a receiver as described with reference to FIGS. 8, 9 and11.

FIG. 18 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1800 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1800may be implemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein.For example, the operations of method 1800 may be performed by a UEcommunications manager 815, 915, 1015, and 1115 as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11. In some examples, a UE 115 may executea set of codes to control the functional elements of the device toperform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively,the UE 115 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At block 1805, the UE 115 may establish a connection with a base station105 using a first transmission beam. The operations of block 1805 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some cases, theconnection may be established following a beam sweep procedure, a beamrefinement procedure, or both. In some cases, the first transmission maybe established with a first set of beamforming parameters that providethe first transmission beam in a first direction. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1805 may be performed by atransmission beam manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

At block 1810, the UE 115 may decode the DCI according to a first DCIformat. The operations of block 1810 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In some cases, the first DCI format mayinclude two or more CWs that may include DCI, and in which the bits ofone of the CWs may be reused for a beam switch command. In some cases,the first DCI format may include a beam switch field that is appended toone or more other DCI fields. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of block 1810 may be performed by a DCI manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1815, the UE 115 may identify that a subset of the one or morebit fields of the first DCI format include the beam switch command. Theoperations of block 1815 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some cases, the subset of the one or more bitfields may be identified based on a format of the DCI information, andwhether a bit field is reused or appended to other DCI bit fields. Insome cases, In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1830may be performed by a DCI manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11.

At block 1820, the UE 115 may decode the beam switch command based atleast in part on the identifying. The operations of block 1820 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some cases, thebeam switch command may include an index of tag that identifies modifiedtransmission beam parameters. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of block 1820 may be performed by a DCI manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1825, the UE 115 may modify one or more beamforming parametersbased at least in part on the beam switch command. The operations ofblock 1825 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In some cases, the one or more beamforming parameters may be modifiedbased on information in the beam switch command. Such information mayinclude, for example, a beam index or tag that is associated with themodified beamforming parameters. In some cases, the beam index of tagmay be associated with a beam refinement signal of one or more uplink ordownlink transmissions. In certain examples, aspects of the operationsof block 1825 may be performed by a beam switching component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At block 1830, the UE 115 may receive one or more subsequent downlinktransmissions via the second transmission beam. The operations of block1830 may be performed according to the methods described herein. Incertain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1830 may beperformed by a receiver as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1900 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1900may be implemented by a base station 105 or its components as describedherein. For example, the operations of method 1900 may be performed by abase station communications manager 1215, 1315, 1415, and 1515 asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 12 through 15. In some examples, abase station 105 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the base station 105 may perform aspectsof the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At block 1905, the base station 105 may establish a connection with auser equipment (UE) using a first transmission beam. The operations ofblock 1905 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In some cases, the connection may be established following a beam sweepprocedure, a beam refinement procedure, or both. In some cases, thefirst transmission may be established with a first set of beamformingparameters that provide the first transmission beam in a firstdirection. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 1905may be performed by a transmission beam manager as described withreference to FIGS. 12 through 15.

At block 1910, the base station 105 may determine that the UE 115 is tobe switched from the first transmission beam to a second transmissionbeam. The operations of block 1910 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In some cases, the determination that the UE115 is to be switched may be made based on one or more measurements ofthe first transmission beam. In some cases, the determination may bemade based at least in part on a beam refinement signal. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1910 may be performed by abeam switching component as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

At block 1915, the base station 105 may format a downlink controlchannel transmission including downlink control information (DCI) in aDCI format, the DCI format including one or more bit fields comprising abeam switch command to switch from the first transmission beam to thesecond transmission beam. The DCI format, in some examples, may includeone or more bit fields that are appended to one or more other DCI bitfields. In some cases, the DCI format may include a bit field that isre-used to indicate a beam switch command. The operations of block 1915may be performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 1915 may be performed by aDCI manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through 15.

At block 1920, the base station 105 may transmit the downlink controlchannel transmission to the UE 115 via the first transmission beam. Theoperations of block 1920 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some cases, subsequent to the transmission of thedownlink control channel transmission, one or more other downlinktransmissions are transmitted using the second transmission beam. Insome cases, one or more subsequent uplink transmissions may also bebased at least in part on the beam switch command. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 1920 may be performed by atransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 12, 13 and 15.

FIG. 20 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 2000 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 2000may be implemented by a base station 105 or its components as describedherein. For example, the operations of method 2000 may be performed by abase station communications manager 1215, 1315, 1415, and 1515 asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 12 through 15. In some examples, abase station 105 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the base station 105 may perform aspectsof the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At block 2005, the base station 105 may establish a connection with auser equipment (UE) using a first transmission beam. The operations ofblock 2005 may be performed according to the methods described herein.In some cases, the connection may be established following a beam sweepprocedure, a beam refinement procedure, or both. In some cases, thefirst transmission may be established with a first set of beamformingparameters that provide the first transmission beam in a firstdirection. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of block 2005may be performed by a transmission beam manager as described withreference to FIGS. 12 through 15.

At block 2010, the base station 105 may configure a set of DCI formatsavailable for the downlink control channel transmission. The operationsof block 2010 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In some cases, the set of DCI formats available the downlinkcontrol channel transmission may include a DCI format in which a beamswitch command is appended to one or more other DCI bit fields. In somecases, the set of DCI formats available the downlink control channeltransmission may include a DCI format in which a DCI bit field ofanother DCI format is re-used for the beam switch command. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 2010 may be performed by aconfiguration manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

At block 2015, the base station 105 may transmit an indication of theset of DCI formats to the UE 115. The operations of block 2015 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some cases, thebase station may transmit the indication of the set of DCI formats tothe UE 115 via RRC signaling or via a MAC-CE. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 2015 may be performed by aconfiguration manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

At block 2020, the base station 105 may transmit an indication to the UE115 that a subset of DCI formats is to be used as a blind decodinghypothesis set for the downlink control channel transmission. Theoperations of block 2020 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some cases, the subset of DCI formats may includeone or more DCI formats that do not include beam switch commands. Insome cases, the subset of DCI formats may include one or more DCIformats that may include beam switch commands and that do not includebeam switch commands. In some cases, the indication may be transmittedto the UE 115 via RRC signaling or in a MAC-CE. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 2020 may be performed by aconfiguration manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

At block 2025, the base station 105 may determine that the UE 115 is tobe switched from the first transmission beam to a second transmissionbeam. The operations of block 2025 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In some cases, the determination that the UE115 is to be switched may be made based on one or more measurements ofthe first transmission beam. In some cases, the determination may bemade based at least in part on a beam refinement signal. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 2025 may be performed by abeam switching component as described with reference to FIGS. 12 through15.

At block 2030, the base station 105 may format a downlink controlchannel transmission including downlink control information (DCI) in aDCI format, the DCI format including one or more bit fields comprising abeam switch command to switch from the first transmission beam to thesecond transmission beam. The operations of block 2030 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. The DCI format, in someexamples, may include one or more bit fields that are appended to one ormore other DCI bit fields. In some cases, the DCI format may include abit field that is re-used to indicate a beam switch command. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of block 2030 may be performed by aDCI manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12, 13, and 15.

At block 2035, the base station 105 may transmit the downlink controlchannel transmission to the UE 115 via the first transmission beam. Theoperations of block 2035 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some cases, subsequent to the transmission of thedownlink control channel transmission, one or more other downlinktransmissions are transmitted using the second transmission beam. Insome cases, one or more subsequent uplink transmissions may also bebased at least in part on the beam switch command. In certain examples,aspects of the operations of block 2035 may be performed by atransmitter as described with reference to FIGS. 12, 13, and 15.

FIG. 21 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 2100 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 2100may be implemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein.For example, the operations of method 2100 may be performed by a UEcommunications manager 815, 915, 1015, and 1115 as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11. In some examples, a UE 115 may executea set of codes to control the functional elements of the device toperform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively,the UE 115 may perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 2105, the UE 115 may establish a connection with a base station usinga first transmission beam. In some cases, the connection may beestablished following a beam sweep procedure, a beam refinementprocedure, or both. In some cases, the first transmission beam may beestablished with a first set of beamforming parameters that provide thefirst transmission beam in a first direction. The operations of 2105 maybe performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 2105 may be performed by atransmission beam manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through11.

At 2110, the UE 115 may receive configuration information configuringthe UE 115 to select between a first decoding hypothesis correspondingto downlink control information (DCI) including a bit field comprising abeam switch command and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding tothe DCI not including the bit field. In some cases, UE 115 may receivethe configuration information via RRC signaling or a MAC-CE. Theoperations of 2110 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 2110 may beperformed by a DCI manager as described with reference to FIGS. 8through 11.

At 2115, the UE 115 may receive a downlink control channel transmissionvia the first transmission beam. In some cases, the downlink controlchannel transmission may be a PDCCH transmission that includes DCI in aDCI format corresponding to the first decoding hypothesis or the seconddecoding hypothesis. The operations of 2115 may be performed accordingto the methods described herein. In certain examples, aspects of theoperations of 2115 may be performed by a blind decoding component asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 2120, the UE 115 may decode the downlink control channel transmissionin accordance with the configuration information to obtain decoded DCI.In some cases, the UE 115 may perform blind decoding of the downlinkcontrol channel transmission in which the first and/or second blinddecoding hypotheses are attempted. The operations of 2120 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 2120 may be performed by a blinddecoding component as described with reference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

At 2125, the UE 115 may communicate with the base station 105 based atleast in part on the decoded DCI. In some cases, the DCI may not includea beam switch command, and the UE 115 and the base station 105 maycontinue to communicate using the first beam. In some cases, the DCI mayinclude a beam switch command, and the UE 115 and the base station 105may communicate using a second beam that is different than the firstbeam. The operations of 2125 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 2125may be performed by a transmission beam manager as described withreference to FIGS. 8 through 11.

FIG. 22 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 2200 for transmission ofbeam switch commands through control channel signaling in accordancewith aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 2200may be implemented by base station 105 or its components as describedherein. For example, the operations of method 2200 may be performed bybase station communications manager 1215, 1315, 1415 and 1515 asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 12 through 15. In some examples, basestation 105 may execute a set of codes to control the functionalelements of the device to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, the base station 105 may perform aspectsof the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At 2205, the base station 105 may establish a connection with a UE 115using a first transmission beam. In some cases, the connection may beestablished following a beam sweep procedure, a beam refinementprocedure, or both. In some cases, the first transmission may beestablished with a first set of beamforming parameters that provide thefirst transmission beam in a first direction. The operations of 2205 maybe performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 2205 may be performed by atransmission beam manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12through 15.

At 2210, the base station 105 may transmit configuration information toconfigure the UE 115 to select between a first decoding hypothesiscorresponding to DCI including a bit field comprising a beam switchcommand and a second decoding hypothesis corresponding to the DCI notincluding the bit field. In some cases, the base station 105 maytransmit the configuration information via RRC signaling or a MAC-CE.The operations of 2210 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 2210may be performed by a DCI manager as described with reference to FIGS.12 through 15.

At 2215, the base station 105 may generate a downlink control channeltransmission in accordance with the configuration information. In somecases, the downlink control channel transmission may be a PDCCHtransmission that includes DCI in a DCI format corresponding to thefirst decoding hypothesis or the second decoding hypothesis. Theoperations of 2215 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In certain examples, aspects of the operations of 2215 may beperformed by a transmission beam manager as described with reference toFIGS. 12 through 15.

At 2220, the base station 105 may transmit the downlink control channeltransmission via the first transmission beam. In some cases, thedownlink control channel transmission may be a transmission transmittedon a first transmission beam within a PDCCH. The operations of 2220 maybe performed according to the methods described herein. In certainexamples, aspects of the operations of 2220 may be performed by atransmission beam manager as described with reference to FIGS. 12through 15.

It should be noted that the methods described above describe possibleimplementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearrangedor otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunications systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access(FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), singlecarrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as CDMA2000,Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000,IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may be commonly referredto as CDMA2000 1×, 1×, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to asCDMA2000 1×EV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system mayimplement a radio technology such as Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM).

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS). LTE and LTE-A are releases of UMTSthat use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, NR, and GSM aredescribed in documents from the organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documentsfrom an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2”(3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems andradio technologies mentioned above as well as other systems and radiotechnologies. While aspects of an LTE or an NR system may be describedfor purposes of example, and LTE or NR terminology may be used in muchof the description, the techniques described herein are applicablebeyond LTE or NR applications.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g.,several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs115 with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cellmay be associated with a lower-powered base station 105, as comparedwith a macro cell, and a small cell may operate in the same or different(e.g., licensed, unlicensed, etc.) frequency bands as macro cells. Smallcells may include pico cells, femto cells, and micro cells according tovarious examples. A pico cell, for example, may cover a small geographicarea and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with servicesubscriptions with the network provider. A femto cell may also cover asmall geographic area (e.g., a home) and may provide restricted accessby UEs 115 having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs 115 in aclosed subscriber group (CSG), UEs 115 for users in the home, and thelike). An eNB for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNBfor a small cell may be referred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, afemto eNB, or a home eNB. An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g., two,three, four, and the like) cells, and may also support communicationsusing one or multiple component carriers.

The wireless communications system 100 or systems described herein maysupport synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronousoperation, the base stations 105 may have similar frame timing, andtransmissions from different base stations 105 may be approximatelyaligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 mayhave different frame timing, and transmissions from different basestations 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniques described hereinmay be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operations.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the above description may berepresented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magneticfields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combinationthereof

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection withthe disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with ageneral-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discretegate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or anycombination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein.A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may bestored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are withinthe scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to thenature of software, functions described above can be implemented usingsoftware executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storagemedia and communication media including any medium that facilitatestransfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media maycomprise random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM),electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othernon-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired programcode means in the form of instructions or data structures and that canbe accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the softwareis transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD),floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items(e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or“one or more of”) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, alist of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BCor ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “basedon” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions.For example, an exemplary step that is described as “based on conditionA” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, asused herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manneras the phrase “based at least in part on.”

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label, or othersubsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appendeddrawings, describes example configurations and does not represent allthe examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of theclaims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous overother examples.” The detailed description includes specific details forthe purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques.These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of thedescribed examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the artto make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosurewill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other variations withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is notlimited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE),comprising: communicating with a base station using a first beam;receiving a first downlink control information (DCI) from a base stationon the first beam, wherein the first DCI comprises a beam switchcommand; decoding the first DCI; and communicating with the base stationusing a second beam based at least in part on the beam switch command inthe first DCI.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising decoding asecond DCI before decoding the first DCI, where the second DCI does notinclude a beam switch command.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst DCI comprises a beam index that allows the UE to identify thesecond beam.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving anactivation bit in advance of receiving the first DCI where theactivation bit indicates that the first DCI contains the beam switchcommand.
 5. The method of claim 4 where the activation bit is providedin radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
 6. A method for wirelesscommunication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: communicating with abase station using a first beam; receiving a first control resource set(CORESET) that indicates the presence of a transmission configurationindication (TCI) in a first downlink control information (DCI); andswitching communication from the first beam to a second beam, whereinthe second beam is identified in the first DCI and the first DCIcomprises a beam switch command that informs the UE to switch from thefirst beam to the second beam.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thefirst DCI comprises a beam index that allows the UE to identify thesecond beam.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the presence of a TCI ina first DCI is indicated by the presence of an activation bit.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the activation bit is provided in radioresource control (RRC) signaling.
 10. An apparatus for wirelesscommunication, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupledto the memory and configured to: communicate with a base station using afirst beam; receive a first downlink control information (DCI) from abase station on the first beam, wherein the first DCI comprises a beamswitch command; decode the first DCI; and communicate with the basestation using a second beam based at least in part on the beam switchcommand in the first DCI.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to decode a second DCI beforedecoding the first DCI, where the second DCI does not include a beamswitch command.
 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein where the firstDCI comprises a beam index that allows the UE to identify the secondbeam.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processoris further configured to receive an activation bit in advance ofreceiving the first DCI, wherein the activation bit indicates that thefirst DCI contains the beam switch command.
 14. The apparatus of claim13, wherein the activation bit is provided in radio resource control(RRC) signaling.
 15. An apparatus for wireless communication,comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memoryand configured to: communicating with a base station using a first beam;receiving a first control resource set (CORESET) that indicates thepresence of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) in a firstdownlink control information (DCI); and switching communication from thefirst beam to a second beam, wherein the second beam is identified inthe first DCI and the first DCI comprises a beam switch command thatinforms the UE to switch from the first beam to the second beam.
 16. Theapparatus of claim 15, wherein the first DCI comprises a beam index thatallows the UE to identify the second beam.
 17. The apparatus of claim15, wherein the presence of a TCI in a first DCI is indicated by thepresence of an activation bit.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17, whereinthe activation bit is provided in radio resource control (RRC)signaling.
 19. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:means for communicating with a base station using a first beam; meansfor receiving a first downlink control information (DCI) from a basestation on the first beam, wherein the first DCI comprises a beam switchcommand; means for decoding the first DCI; and means for communicatingwith the base station using a second beam based at least in part on thebeam switch command in the first DCI.
 20. The apparatus of claim 19,further comprising means for decoding a second DCI before decoding thefirst DCI, wherein the second DCI does not include a beam switchcommand.
 21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the first DCI comprisesa beam index that allows the UE to identify the second beam.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 19, further comprising means for receiving anactivation bit in advance of receiving the first DCI, wherein theactivation bit indicates that the first DCI contains the beam switchcommand.
 23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the activation bit isprovided in radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
 24. A apparatus forwireless communication, comprising: means for communicating with a basestation using a first beam; means for receiving a first control resourceset (CORESET) that indicates the presence of a transmissionconfiguration indication (TCI) in a first downlink control information(DCI); and means for switching communication from the first beam to asecond beam, wherein the second beam is identified in the first DCI andthe first DCI comprises a beam switch command that informs the UE toswitch from the first beam to the second beam.
 25. The method of claim24, wherein the first DCI comprises a beam index that allows the UE toidentify the second beam.
 26. The method of claim 24, wherein thepresence of a TCI in a first DCI is indicated by the presence of anactivation bit.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the activation bitis provided in radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
 28. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructionsfor wireless communication, the set of instructions including one ormore instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of auser equipment (UE), cause the UE to: communicate with a base stationusing a first beam; receive a first downlink control information (DCI)from a base station on the first beam where the first DCI comprises abeam switch command; decode the first DCI; and communicate with the basestation using a second beam based at least in part on the beam switchcommand in the first DCI.
 29. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 28, wherein the set of instructions further include oneor more instructions to decode a second DCI before decoding the firstDCI, where the second DCI does not include a beam switch command. 30.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein wherethe first DCI comprises a beam index that allows the UE to identify thesecond beam.
 31. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim28, wherein the set of instructions further include one or moreinstructions to receive an activation bit in advance of receiving thefirst DCI where the activation bit indicates that the first DCI containsthe beam switch command.
 32. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 31, wherein the activation bit is provided in radio resourcecontrol (RRC) signaling.
 33. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set ofinstructions including one or more instructions that, when executed byone or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to:communicate with a base station using a first beam; receive a firstcontrol resource set (CORESET) that indicates the presence of atransmission configuration indication (TCI) in a first downlink controlinformation (DCI); and switch communication from the first beam to asecond beam, wherein the second beam is identified in the first DCI andthe first DCI comprises a beam switch command that informs the UE toswitch from the first beam to the second beam.
 34. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein the first DCI comprises abeam index that allows the UE to identify the second beam.
 35. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 33, wherein thepresence of a TCI in a first DCI is indicated by the presence of anactivation bit.
 36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim33, wherein the activation bit is provided in radio resource control(RRC) signaling.